• 

. 


LIBBAIO 

OK   THK 

itu  of  lali 


Division  ...... 

Range 
Shelf 


Received  .. 


University  of  California 

FROM    THK    J.IUR.AKY    c>F 

DR.     FRANCIS     LIKBER, 
rr..fos>ur  «,f  ilish.ry  and  Lu-.v  in  C..I,mibia  College.  Now  York. 


T1IK    (iiKT    or 

MICHAEL     REESE, 

'  \f  Xan  Francisco. 
L  8  7  3  . 


ADDRESSES 


OF    THE 


NEWLY-APPOINTED   PROFESSORS 


OF 


COLUMBIA  COLLEGE, 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 


BY    WILLIAM    BETTS,    LL.D 


FEBRUARY,   1858. 


NEW   YORK: 
BY    AUTHORITY    OF    THE    TRUSTEES 

1858. 


'.  HALLENBEOK  &  THOMAS,  PRINTERS, 
No.  113  Fulton  street,  New  York. 


RESOLUTIONS  OF  THE  TRUSTEES. 


AT  a  meeting  of  the  Trustees  of  Columbia  College,  held  on  the  22d  of 
June,  1357: 

Resolved,  That  it  be  referred  to  a  committee  of  three,  of  which  the  Presi 
dent  shall  be  Chairman,  to  make  such  arrangements  as  they  may  deem  expedi 
ent  in  reference  to  the  inauguration  of  the  newly-appointed  Professors  at  the 
opening  of  the  next  College  Course. 

The  President,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Spring,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Haight  were 
appointed  the  Committee. 

Mr.  Jones  and  Mr.  Zabriskie  were  subsequently  added  to  the  Com 
mittee. 


On  the  17th  September,  1857,  the  Committee  made  a  Report,  and  it 
was 

Resolved,  That  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  the  Course  be  requested 
to  prepare  the  address  of  the  Trustees,  mentioned  therein. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Trustees  of  the  College,  held  on  the  1st  of  March, 
1858,  it  was 

Resolved,  That  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  the  Course,  and  the 
several  Professors,  be  requested  to  furnish  copies  of  the  addresses  lately 
delivered  by  them,  and  that  the  same  be  printed  and  published  under  the 
direction  of  the  Committee. 


CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS, 


WILLIAM  BEITS,  LL.  D., 


INAUGURAL  ADDRESS, 

CHARLES  A.  JOY,  PH.  D.,  .     •   .        .        .        .        .        .29 

INAUGURAL  ADDRESS, 

FRANCIS  LIEBER,  LL.  D., 55 

INAUGURAL  ADDRESS, 

CHARLES  DAVIES,  LL.  D.,  .        >        .        .        .        .        .117 

INAUGURAL  DISCOURSE, 

CHARLES  MURRAY  NAIRNE,  M.  A.,     .        .        .        ,        .153 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 


COLUMBIA   COLLEGE, 

BY   WILLIAM   BETTS,  LL.  D., 


February,    1858. 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS. 


BEFORE  the  several  professors,  who  have  lately 
assumed  chairs  of  instruction  in  Columbia  College, 
shall  address  themselves  to  you,  the  Trustees  have 
thought  it  fitting,  on  their  own  behalf,  to  offer  a 
few  preliminary  remarks.  The  principal  object  of 
our  meeting  at  this  time  is,  the  introduction  to  the 
public  of  those  learned  gentlemen.  On  ordinary 
occasions,  this  introduction  is  made  by  means  of  an 
Inaugural  Discourse,  delivered  by  the  incumbent,  on 
commencing  the  functions  of  his  office  ;  and  it  seldom 
happens  that  more  than**  a  single  individual,  at  any 
one  time,  is  called  upon  to  perform  the  duty.  We 
have  now,  however,  to  celebrate  no  common  inaugu 
ration.  Several  individuals  are  about  to  lay  before 
you  their  views  and  the  objects  of  their  teaching  in 
the  various  departments  committed  to  them ;  and 
this,  under  circumstances  of  deep  interest,  and  pecu 
liar  importance.  The  rapid  progress  of  events,  for  a 
few  past  years,  has  operated  powerfully  upon  the 
College,  and  wrought  a  mighty  change  in  its  pros 
pects  and  designs.  Those  events  have  pushed  from 


2  MR.    BETTS'   ADDRESS. 

its  foundations  the  old  fabric  of  the  College,  and 
swept  away  every  trace  of  its  material  existence. 
This  revolution  was  attended  with  adequate  compen 
sation.  An  accession  to  its  means  came  with  its 
change  of  position ;  and  that  brought  with  it  an 
accession  of  responsibility.  This  is  not  just  the  time 
to  enlarge  on  the  character  of  that  responsibility,  or 
of  the  mode  in  which  it  affected  the  minds  of  the 
Trustees.  It  is  enough,  at  this  moment,  to  say,  that 
they  felt  it,  and  they  acted  upon  it ;  they  wish  that 
the  Public  should  know  that  they  did  feel  it,  and  that 
they  did  act  upon  it ;  and,  with  this  view,  they  have 
directed,  in  connection  with  the  present  celebration, 
to  use  their  own  words,  "  An  Address  to  be  pre 
pared  from  the  Trustees,  setting  forth,  clearly  and 
fully,  the  history  of  the  recent  changes  in  and 
enlargement  of  the  course  of  studies  ;  and  their  pur 
poses  and  hopes  in  regard  to  their  future  operations." 
The  Trustees  having  thought  fit  to  select  one  of  their 
own  number  for  the  performance  of  that  duty ;  and 
having  committed  it  to  him  who  now  speaks  to 
you,  he  will  proceed  to  discharge  it,  with  as  much 
brevity  as  is  consistent  with  its  faithful  perform 
ance. 

The  prominent  object  before  the  Public,  undoubt 
edly,  is  the  removal  of  the  College,  and  its  position 
in  its  present  locality.  The  considerations  and  motives 


MR.     BETTS'     ADDRESS. 


which  preceded  that  removal,  the  hopes  which  at 
tend,  and  the  completed  designs  which  may  follow  it, 
are  not  so  apparent  to  them  ;  and,  in  making  a  sketch 
of  the  late  changes,  it  may  not  be  unfitting  to  refer 
briefly  to  the  recent  removal  of  the  Institution  from 
its  former  grounds. 

Undoubtedly  this  removal  is  attended  with  painful 
recollections,  as  well  as  pleasing  anticipations.  At 
the  time  the  old  building  was  erected,  one  hundred 
years  ago,  it  stood  in  the  midst  of  pleasant  fields,  on 
the  banks  of  the  lordly  Hudson.  Tranquillity  and 
silence  were  around  it.  The  groves  of  the  Academy 
were  removed  from  the  strife  of  trade,  and  the  tu 
mult  of  the  forum  ;  the  life  of  contemplation  was  not 
brought  breast  to  breast  with  the  life  of  action,  but 
each  pursued,  apart,  its  own  appropriate  course :  and 
the  students,  while  they  daily,  in  their  silken  gowns 
and  tasselled  caps,  proceeded  to  the  isolated  halls  of 
their  venerated  mother,  felt  themselves  a  distinct  and 
peculiar  class.  The  conviction  rested  upon  them,1 
although  it  might  find  no  definite  embodiment  either 
in  idea  or  expression,  that  their  quiet  and  modest 
occupation  was  one  of  high  import ;  that  their  daily 
intercourse  with  the  spirits  of  the  great  men,  whose 
intellect  had  illuminated  the  world,  was  fitting  them 
for  high  intercourse  thereafter ;  and  that  they  were 


MR.     BETTS'     ADDRESS. 


becoming  qualified  to  be  the  leaders  and  benefactors 
of  mankind. 

The  progress  of  trade  soon  filled  those  fields  with 
habitations,  and  removed  from  the  shore  of  the  Col 
lege  lawn  the  ripples  of  the  gentle  river.  The 
Academic  caps  disappeared  from  the  brows  of  the 
youthful  wearers;  and  houses,  and  ware-rooms,  and 
streets  crowded  around,  and  stretched  onwards,  and 
pressed  upon  the  College  precincts,  until  the  voice  of 
learning  was  almost  stifled  by  the  clamor  of  business ; 
its  atmosphere  mingled  with  the  atmosphere  of  trade; 
its  objects  began  to  be  regarded  as  of  secondary  im 
port  ;  and  the  halls  of  study  lost  that  calm  repose, 
without  which  study  can  never  be  profitably  pro 
secuted. 

Although,  for  some  years  before  the  removal  took 
place,  it  became  evident  that  it  must  occur  at  no  dis 
tant  period,  its  actual  removal  was  yet  made  sooner 
than  it  was  expected.  The  opening  of  a  new  street, 
directly  in  front  of  the  building,  taking  from  it  all 
retirement  and  privacy,  and  the  current  of  trade, 
which  poured  steadily  just  in  that  direction,  forced  it 
to  retreat.  The  old  recollections  which  clustered 
around  it,  of  early  friendships,  and  joyous  sports,  and 
youthful  aspirations,  were  banished  with  regret ;  the 
old  associations  connected  with  the  halls,  and  the  Lec 
ture  rooms,  and  the  honored  faculty,  and  even  the 


MR.     BEITS'     ADDRESS. 


neglected  discipline,  with  pain  were  broken.  It  was 
painful,  but  it  was  proper ;  and  the  Government  of 
the  College  did  not  hesitate  to  do  it.  They  had  not 
waited  for  the  last  moment,  but  had  already  taken 
such  measures  as  were  fitting  for  the  occasion ;  and 
when  the  event  took  place,  they  were,  so  far  as  it  was 
in  their  power  to  be  so,  prepared  for  it.  It  was  an 
ticipated  that  the  same  circumstances  which  com 
pelled  the  removal  of  the  College  would  eventually 
enlarge  its  income.  It  could  not  be  known  when,  or 
to  what  extent,  this  enlargement  would  take  place ; 
nor  what  amount  of  expenditures  might  become  need 
ful  ;  but  it  was  plain  that,  after  all  expenditures,  there 
would  yet  be  an  accession  to  its  means.  The  College 
felt  that  it  was  incumbent  on  it  to  improve,  if  pos 
sible,  the  quality  of  its  usefulness,  and  certainly  its 
quantity ;  and  it  took  timely  measures  to  provide  for 
every  possible  contingency. 

The  property  of  the  College,  it  is  generally  known, 
is  composed  of  the  noble  donation,  by  Trinity  Church, 
of  the  tract  on  which  the  fabric  lately  stood  ;  and  of 
another  tract  of  land,  the  gift  of  the  State,  formerly 
known  as  the  Botanic  Garden,  near  the  position  of 
the  present  College. 

The  first  grant  was  made  u  to  aid  in  founding,  erect 
ing  and  establishing  a  college,  and  promoting  the 
education  of  youth  in  the  liberal  arts  and  sciences ;' 


6  MR.     BETTS'     ADDRESS. 

and  was  upon  the  condition  that  the  President  should 
be  in  communion  with  the  English  Church,  and  that 
certain  prayers  should  be  used  in  the  daily  service  of 
the  chapel.     This  grant  forms  the  principal  part  of 
the  active  property  of  the  College.     Large  sums  have 
lately  been  received  from  the  sale  of  a  portion  of  the 
property.     A  considerable  amount  of  the  avails  of 
those  sales  is  required  for  adequately  establishing  the 
institution  in  the  upper  part  of  the  city,  and  for  put 
ting  the  State  grant  in  a  condition  to  produce  a  reve 
nue.     The  accommodations  now  in  use  for  instruction 
are  intended  to  be  temporary.     The  outlay  made  in 
preparing  them  for  use  has  much  exceeded  what  was 
intended ;  a  heavy  expenditure  has  been  incurred  in 
regulating  the  Botanic  Garden,  from  which  an  essen 
tial  part  of  the  future  revenue  of  the  College  is  ex 
pected  to  be  derived ;  this  expenditure  has  absorbed 
large  sums  received  from  the  sales  of  the  real  estate ; 
and  great  prudence  and  economy  are  necessary  to 
secure  the  advantages  of  education,  at  which  the  Trus 
tees  most  anxiously  are  aiming.     These  observations, 
respecting  the  means  of  the  College,  are  not  precisely 
in  the  chronological  order  in  which  they  should  be  in 
relation  to  the  changes  made ;  but,  inasmuch  as  they 
form  the  basis  upon  which  the  other  measures  are  to 
be  constructed,  they  are  here  introduced,  that  the  con 
nection  of  its  action,  on  those  measures,  may  not  be 


MR.     BETTS'     ADDEESS.  7 

broken.  You  will  observe,  therefore,  that  when  the 
Trustees  of  the  College  began  to  move  in  this  matter, 
they  knew  that  very  large  expenses  must  be  incurred 
both  in  the  construction  of  the  buildings  and  in  the 
regulation  of  the  State  grounds ;  they  knew  that  the 
expenses  of  regulating  the  land  would  eventually  be 
paid  by  the  land  itself;  but  they  did  not  know  when 
they  might  expect  revenue  from  it ;  they  did  not  know 
how  much  the  portion  of  the  church  property  to  be 
sold  would  produce ;  they  knew  that,  upon  the  whole, 
there  would  be  an  increase  of  revenue,  but  they  could 
not  anticipate  its  amount,  or  the  time  at  which  it 
would  take  place ;  and  therefore  it  became  material 
that  any  plan  of  enlarged  operations  should  admit  of 
expansion  in  proportion  to  the  means  to  be  acquired. 
Actuated  by  these  considerations,  the  Trustees,  on 
the  third  day  of  October,  1853,  appointed  a  commit 
tee,  who  were  instructed  "  to  inquire  whether  it  was 
expedient  to  take  any  and  what  measures,  for  the 
removal  of  the  College ;  and,  in  the  event  of  such 
removal,  whether  any  and  what  changes  ought  to  be 
made  in  the  under-graduate  course ;  and  whether  it 
would  be  expedient  to  establish  a  system  of  univers 
ity  education,  in  addition  to  such  under-graduate 
course,  either  in  continuation  thereof  or  otherwise; 
and  that  they  should  report  fully  as  to  the  principles 
and  details  of  any  plan  that  they  might  recommend ; 


8  MR.     BETTS'     ADDRESS. 

and  whether,  in  their  opinion,  it  could  be  successfully 
carried  into  execution ;  and  in  connection  therewith, 
that  they  consider  whether,  for  the  more  effectual 
carrying  out  such  plan,  and  extending  the  benefits  of 
the  institution,  it  ought  to  afford  rooms  and  com 
mons,  or  rooms  alone  for  resident  students,  or  ought 
to  have  its  seat  isolated." 

These  instructions,  it  may  be  observed,  covered  the 
whole  subject  of  the  higher  branches  of  learning ; 
and,  by  directing  the  principles  of  any  plan  to  be 
detailed,  it  necessarily  opened  an  inquiry  into  the 
objects  and  ends  of  a  thorough  education,  as  well  as 
the  best  means  of  attaining  those  objects  and  ends. 
The  Committee  entered  upon  their  duties  with 
promptness ;  and  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees,  in  November,  1853,  they  made  a  prelimi 
nary  report,  in  which  they  stated,  as  the  ground 
work  of  their  future  proceedings,  their  conviction, 
that  the  proper  business  of  a  College  education  was 
.the  cultivation  of  the  human  intellect  in  all  its  parts 
and  functions,  with  a  view  to  a  full  development  of 
the  mental  and  moral  qualities :  generally,  to  form 
and  give  direction  to  the  mind,  without  reference 
to  any  specific  future  employment. 

The  Committee  knew  that  this  view  did  not  com 
mand  popular  sympathy.  They  knew  that  the  pub- 
.lic  generally,  unaccustomed  to  look  upon  the  mind 


ME.     BETTS'     ADDEESS.  9 

except  in  connection  with  the  body,  and  to  regard 
it  as  a  machine  for  promoting  the  pleasures,  the  con 
veniences,  or  the  comforts  of  the  latter,  might  be 
dissatisfied  with  a  system  of  education  in  which  they 
were  unable  to  perceive  the  direct  connection  be 
tween  the  knowledge  imparted  and  the  advantages 
to  be  gained.  They  hoped  that  some  means  might 
be  devised  for  satisfying,  in  some  measure,  this  de 
mand  ;  but,  in  seeking  this  object,  they  were  admon 
ished,  by  experience,  authority  and  reason,  not  to 
diminish,  in  the  slightest  degree,  the  high  value  which 
was  placed  on  the  right  acquisition  of  the  Greek  and 
Latin  Classics.  With  respect  to  the  establishment 
of  a  post-graduate  university  system  in  addition  to 
the  under-graduate  course,  they  were  not  prepared  to 
say  more,  than  that  they  regarded  it  favorably  in 
those  respects  in  which  it  might  be  practicable  :  but 
that  the  design  was  not  free  from  serious  difficulties ; 
that  the  subject  had  occupied  the  minds  of  learned 
men  in  connection  with  the  English  Universities,  but 
hitherto  without  effect ;  that  the  Medical  and  Theo 
logical  Schools  had  done  much,  perhaps  all  that  could 
at  present  be  done  in  that  direction ;  but  in  regard 
to  higher  jurisprudence,  and  the  sciences  and  their 
applications,  much  might  possibly  be  done  by  the 
College. 

The  Committee  likewise  recommended  the  imme 


10  MR.     BETTS      ADDRESS. 

diate  removal  of  the  College ;  but,  although  exertions 
were  made  to  attain  that  object,  they  were  fortunate 
ly,  as  subsequent  events  proved,  unsuccessful. 

The  general  principle  of  Collegiate  Education  hav 
ing  been  thus  briefly,  but  decidedly  exhibited  to  the 
Board  of  Trustees,  and  no  dissenting  opinion  having 
been  expressed,  it  became  proper  to  invoke  the  ad 
vice  of  the  several  members  of  the  Faculty,  whose 
acquirements  and  experience  peculiarly  qualified  them 
to  afford  aid  at  this  juncture ;  and  without  whose 
harmonious  co-operation  with  the  Trustees  no  success 
could  be  expected  in  the  proposed  operations.  Most 
of  the  Faculty  gave  written  responses  to  the  inqui 
ries  addressed  to  them ;  and  it  was  satisfactory  and 
gratifying  that  their  concurrence  with  the  views  of 
the  Committee,  as  to  the  fundamental  principles  and 
true  ends  of  education,  was  entirely  unanimous. 

The  answers  of  the  Faculty  to  the  inquiries  made 
had  not,  however,  been  immediate ;  and,  in  the  mean 
while,  a  full  report  was  made  to  the  Board  of  Trus 
tees,  by  the  same  Committee,  on  the  24th  of  July, 
1854,  comprehending  all  the  subjects  which  had  been 
referred  to  them,  and  reporting  fully  the  principles 
which  had  guided  them  in  the  adoption  of  the  plan 
recommended.  That  plan,  as  eventually  modified, 
will  soon  be  explained.  It  was  contained  in  a  sylla 
bus  or  outline  of  a  statute ;  and,  as  the  revenues  of 


MR.     BETTS'     ADDRESS.  11 

the  College  were  not  then  in  a  condition  to  authorize 
an  immediate  expansion,  an  opportunity  was  allowed 
for  examination  and  criticism,  and  for  receiving  from 
the  Faculty  the  mature  results  of  their  reflections. 
The  answers  of  several  of  the  Faculty  having  been 
at  length  received,  and  the  Board  of  Trustees  having 
had  a  full  opportunity  for  deliberation,  the  Com 
mittee,  on  the  4th  of  June,  1855,  again  brought  the 
subject  before  the  Trustees,  and  professed  themselves 
ready  to  report  a  statute,  at  any  time  that  the  Board 
might  desire,  and  be  prepared  to  receive  it. 

On  the  12th  of  January,  185Y,  the  time  had  ar 
rived,  when  from  the  necessity  of  removal,  and  the 
probability  of  an  augmented  revenue,  the  Board  of 
Trustees  were  prepared  for  action  ;  and  accordingly, 
on  that  day,  they  directed  the  Committee  on  the 
course,  "  to  bring  in  the  full  statute  to  comprehend 
the  whole  scheme  of  College  and  University  instruc 
tion  contemplated  by  their  former  report." 

The  requisition  was  promptly  obeyed,  and  the  full 
statute  prepared  and  reported  on  the  second  day  of 
March.  In  the  brief  interval,  the  site  on  which  the 
old  College  stood  had  been  sold,  and  the  removal  of 
the  institution  was  to  take  place  in  May. 

For  two  or  three  years  preceding  this  period,  ar 
rangements  had  been  going  on  for  the  erection  of 
proper  and  permanent  buildings  on  the  Botanic  Gar- 


12  MR.     BETTS'     ADDRESS. 

den  grounds ;  but  the  uncertainty  attending  the  event 
ual  arrangement  of  those  grounds,  and  other  circum 
stances  which  could  not  be  controlled,  suspended  the 
prosecution  of  the  design.  A  variety  of  proposals 
had  from  time  to  time  been  made  for  removal  to 
temporary  buildings ;  but  the  transfer  of  a  large  insti 
tution,  with  its  library,  apparatus,  and  necessary  para 
phernalia,  was  no  easy  matter.  This  subject  might 
have  created  a  serious  embarrassment,  had  not  the 
offer  of  the  buildings,  formerly  occupied  by  the  Deaf 
and  Dumb  Institution,  provided  a  mode  of  accommo 
dation,  which  promised  to  be  both  efficacious  and 
economical. 

The  Trustees  now  set  about  effecting  their  purpose 
in  earnest.  By  the  month  of  July  the  statute  was 
modified,  altered  and  completed,  and  assumed  its 
present  shape  ;  and,  about  the  commencement  of  the 
Collegiate  term  in  autumn,  four  professors  and  one 
associate  had  been  added  to  the  body  of  instructors. 

You  have  been  told  that,  in  directing  the  prepara 
tion  of  the  statute,  the  Committee  were  instructed  to 
comprehend  in  it  the  whole  scheme  of  Collegiate  and 
University  studies  contemplated  by  their  former  re 
port.  The  phrase  "  University  studies"  was  one  of 
mere  convenience ;  perhaps  not  very  accurate,  and 
was  intended  to  denote  that  instruction  which  might 
be  imparted  after  graduation. 


MR.   BETTS'    ADDRESS.  IB 

The  studies  denominated  Collegiate  are  well  under 
stood.  They  comprise  the  various  branches  known 
as  the  Classical,  Philosophical,  Historical,  Belles-let 
tres,  Mathematical,  and  in  some  degree  Scientific. 
The  latter  term,  however  inappropriate  as  an  exclu 
sive  name,  has  been  assumed  by  that  peculiar  branch 
of  human  learning  which  comprehends  the  nature, 
operation  and  laws  of  Matter.  That  branch  has  been, 
and  is,  perpetually  expanding  by  new  discoveries.  If 
it  were  expected  that  it  should  be  included,  much  be 
yond  the  elements,  in  the  usual  collegiate  course,  then 
a  useful  college  education  would  be  simply  impos 
sible.  There  had  been  indications  abroad,  that,  not 
withstanding  its  evident  impracticability,  this  was 
expected.  It  would  fatigue  you  to  enter  into  any 
detail  of  the  suggestions  or  discussions  on  this  sub 
ject.  It  may  suffice,  for  this  occasion,  to  say  that  an 
effort  was  made  to  satisfy,  as  far  as  possible,  all  de 
mands,  and  that  the  plan  now  adopted,  and  about  to 
go  into  operation,  was  upon  the  whole,  after  full  con 
sideration,  regarded  as  the  best  which  could  be  fallen 
upon,  for  an  experiment. 

That  plan  adopts  in  substance  the  former  collegiate 
curriculum  to  the  close  of  the  Third  or  Junior  year, 
with  adaptations  to  the  future  studies,  both  sub-grad 
uate  and  post-graduate.  At  the  commencement  of 
the  Fourth  or  Senior  year,  the  studies  assume  a 


14  MR.     BETTS'     ADDRESS. 

wider  scope,  and  comprehend  a  variety  of  topics. 
These  studies,  too  numerous  to  be  pursued  in  one  or 
two  courses,  even  in  the  most  elementary  manner,  are 
distributed  into  three  departments,  in  order  that  they 
may  be  prosecuted  with  some  hope  of  advantage. 
Up  to  this  point  of  college  life,  the  end  in  view  is 
mainly  to  discipline  and  invigorate  the  mind,  and  to 
enlighten  and  purify  the  heart.  Now,  the  object  is  to 
apply  this  intellectual  light  and  vigor  to  the  perma 
nent  acquisition  of  knowledge ;  to  emancipate  the  stu 
dent  gradually  from  the  trammels  of  catechetical 
teaching,  and  to  prepare  him  for  the  higher  and  more 
arduous  efforts  of  self-instruction.  With  this  view, 
three  departments  are  constructed,  which  are  termed 
Schools  of  Letters,  of  Science,  and  of  Jurisprudence ; 
the  first  of  which  has  reference  to  general  improve 
ment  ;  the  two  latter  to  specific  objects,  as  indicated 
by  their  names.  On  entering  the  Senior  year,  each 
student  may  select  either  of  these  schools.  Should 
he  neglect  to  make  a  selection,  he  continues  in  the 
Classical  or  School  of  Letters. 

After  graduation,  the  same  schools  are  proposed  to 
be  continued  for  two  years.  A  reference  to  the  pro 
posed  course  of  instruction  will  show  that  they  com 
prehend  a  large  circle  of  human  learning.  The 
instruction  in  these  schools  is  not  to  be  confined  to 
the  graduates  of  the  college.  It  is  open  to  the  whole 


ME.     BETTS7     ADDKESS.  15 

world.  A  sufficient  body  of  teachers  is  provided  to 
commence  the  undertaking.  A  nucleus  is  presented 
for  a  great  university,  adapted  and  prepared  to  meet 
all  the  wants  of  the  community.  If  there  be  really 
that  demand  for  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  which 
has  been  supposed,  it  may  here  be  satisfied.  If  there 
be  in  fact  no  such  demand,  or  such  only  to  a  limited 
extent,  time  will  soon  develop  the  truth.  It  is  indeed 
hoped  that  the  graduates  of  the  college,  animated  by 
a  noble  and  inspiring  love  of  learning,  will  not  fail 
to  take  advantage  of  the  proposed  means  of  instruc 
tion  thus  afforded  to  them,  and  that  others  will  grad 
ually  be  drawn  to  join  them. 

The  progress  of  the  undertaking  may  be  slow ;  it 
may  be  unsuccessful.  The  slowness  of  its  progress 
need,  however,  not  to  produce  despair.  Most  things 
that  are  valuable  and  lasting  are  slow  in  progression. 
Time  and  experience  will,  however,  soon  demonstrate 
the  utility  of  the  attempt ;  and  it  is  so  devised,  that 
it  may  be  expanded,  contracted,  or  discontinued 
without  difficulty. 

Among  the  late  changes,  it  may  be  observed,  that 
the  Chapel  exercises  have  been  modified,  and  greater 
solemnity  imparted  to  the  service  ;  the  Library  has 
been  stimulated ;  large  accessions  have  been  made  to 
the  Chemical  and  Physical  Departments  ;  the  Astro 
nomical  Department  forwarded,  and  measures  taken 


16  MR.     BETTS'     ADDRESS. 

for  the  establishment  of  an  Observatory;  and,  in 
general,  liberal  contributions  have  been  made  to  the 
requirements  of  all  the  chairs.  The  price  of  tuition 
has  been  reduced  nearly  one-half.  The  division  of 
the  classes  into  sections  gives  an  opportunity  for 
more  thorough  instruction.  Moreover,  a  Commission 
of  Inquiry  has  been  instituted,  for  gathering  in 
formation  from  every  accessible  quarter  of  this 
country,  having  in  view  the  general  advancement  of 
learning,  and  enforcement  of  discipline,  the  results 
of  which  have  not  yet  been  made  known  to  the 
Trustees. 

The  revenue  of  the  College  is  yet  limited  ;  its  en 
largement  is  prospective,  of  course  uncertain,  and 
under  any  circumstances  much  below  the  common 
supposition.  Should  the  effort  now  in  progress  be 
successful,  the  Trustees  propose  to  add,  from  time  to 
time,  every  necessary  appliance  for  the  advancement 
of  learning,  to  the  extent  of  the  means  enjoyed  by 
them ;  but  they  feel  it  a  duty  not  to  lavish  those 
means,  and,  by  heedlessly  exhausting  them,  defeat  the 
hopes  of  the  true  friends  of  education. 

A  brief  history  has  thus  been  offered  of  the  late 
changes  in  the  course  of  study,  of  their  enlargement, 
and  of  the  purposes  and  hopes  of  the  Trustees  in  re 
gard  to  their  future  operations.  Before  dismissing 
this  subject,  you  will  pardon  a  few  general  remarks 


ME.    BETTS'    ADDRESS.  17 

having  reference  to  the  principles  comprehended  in 
the  recent  measures  of  the  College. 

The  young  student,  when  he  presents  himself  for 
admission  into  College,  is  just  emerging  from  boy 
hood;  and,  before  he  completes  the  portion  of  time 
to  be  passed  within  its  walls,  will  be,  essentially,  a 
man.  The  class  of  youth  who  are  sent  here  are,  for 
the  most  part,  a  select  class ;  selected  from  their  sup 
posed  promise  for  the  future ;  selected  by  the  fond 
expectations  of  loving  parents ;  or  to  qualify  them 
selves  rightly  to  occupy  the  position  in  society  for 
which  Providence  appears  to  have  designed  them. 
They  are  to  occupy  the  higher  positions  of  society : 
those  young  men  are  thereafter  to  form  a  leaven, 
which  is  to  spread  its  influence  throughout  the  com 
munity,  either  for  evil  or  for  good.  If  their  tenden 
cies  be  well  directed,  they  will  become  a  blessing  to 
themselves,  to  their  immediate  companions,  and  to  the 
world  in  which  they  may  move.  Should  their  ten 
dencies  be  ill-directed,  they  will  be  equally  a  curse. 
With  the  vivacity  and  buoyancy  of  youth,  with  its 
joyous,  exuberant  and  not  easily  restrained  overflow 
of  spirits,  they  generally  bring  with  them  an  appre 
hension  of  truth,  an  instinct  of  honor,  and  an  appre 
ciation  of  justice,  which,  if  discreetly  managed,  will 
lead  and  keep  them  in  the  right  direction.  If  there 
be  exceptions ;  if  there  be  found  some  ignoble  spirits 


18  MR,    BETTS'    ADDRESS. 

who  have  strayed  among  them,  it  does  not  require 
much  observation  to  detect  them,  and  they  should  at 
once  be  rooted  out.  This  young  band,  who  annually 
present  themselves,  asking  to  be  carried  through  the 
most  critical  portions  of  their  lives,  and  who  con 
fidingly  throw  themselves  into  the  protection  of  the 
College ;  who  come,  in  a  measure,  divested  of  the  un 
sleeping  and  anxious  carefulness  which  has  watched 
them  from  the  cradle  up  to  this  period,  when  they 
seek  to  be  instructed  to  walk  alone ;  to  go  forth  from 
the  College  walls  armed  with  the  panoply  of  virtue 
and  of  learning;  to  meet  the  masses  of  evil  which 
they  will  be  sure  to  encounter  in  later  life ;  have  a 
right  to  all  the  thought,  all  the  intelligence,  and  all 
the  experience  that  can  be  brought  to  bear  upon 
their  situation.  It  is  true  that  the  period  between 
their  entrance  into  College  life  and  their  departure 
from  it  is  short;  but  it  is  the  very  heart  of  their 
life ;  it  is  just  the  period  which  gives  color  to  their 
future,  and  stamps  it  for  good  or  for  evil  in  this 
world,  and  it  may  be  in  the  world  to  come.  The 
responsibility  which  rests  upon  giving  a  right  direc 
tion  during  this  period,  is  just  in  proportion  to  the 
greatness  of  the  results ;  and  no  right-thinking  man, 
whether  among  the  Trustees  or  the  Faculty,  can  fail 
to  feel  the  graveness  of  the  charge  which  is  laid  upon 
him.  Whatever  other  duties  may  devolve  upon  the 


MR.     BETTS'     ADDRESS.  19 

authorities  of  the  College,  this  one  is  clear,  that  they 
are  bound  to  exercise  their  best  energies  and  their 
best  judgment  for  the  benefit  of  the  youth  entrusted 
to  their  care  ;  and,  although  it  may  be  incumbent  on 
them  to  extend,  as  far  as  practicable,  the  circle  of 
human  learning,  and  to  bring  as  many  as  possible 
within  its  operation,  the  other  is  the  most  pressing 
and  paramount  obligation. 

Perhaps  it  may  be  said,  that  the  means  to  attain 
the  desired  ends  are  obvious — that  they  are  simply 
Discipline  and  Education — words  easy  to  be  spoken ; 
difficult  to  be  apprehended ;  most  difficult  to  be 
rightly  employed.  With  regard  to  discipline,  can 
you  not  see  at  once  the  difference  which  may  result 
from  regarding  the  young  as  noble,  confiding,  and 
honest,  or  as  selfish,  narrow,  and  insincere  ?  In  the 
applications  of  rewards,  can  you  not  perceive  the  dis 
tinction  between  those  which  appeal  to  lofty  sen 
timents,  and  those  which  address  themselves  to 
sordid  feelings  ?  In  punishments,  between  those 
which  are  gently  but  unavoidably  applied  as  a  warn 
ing  to  youthful  infirmity,  and  those  which  are  rudely 
inflicted  as  a  punishment  of  vice  ?  And  yet  these 
are  but  broad  distinctions  which  separate  many 
varieties.  On  the  Trustees  of  the  College  it  de 
volves  to  prescribe  judicious  rules  ;  they  should  look 
well  that  those  rules  be  founded  on  right  principles  ; 


20  MR.     BETTS'     ADDRESS. 

but  on  the  Faculty  lies  a  far  greater  weight  of  duty. 
Their  daily  intercourse  with  the  students  is  not  sus 
ceptible  of  regulation  ;  and  it  is  from  their  conduct, 
and  their  example,  that  habits  of  order,  diligence, 
obedience  and  truth,  must  be  acquired  :  and  as  it  is 
written,  that  spark  kindleth  spark,  and  fire  answer- 
eth  to  fire,  so  the  young  men  in  their  turn  should 
never  fail  to  give  to  generous  confidence  a  generous 
response. 

With  regard  to  Education,  likewise,  there  are  great 
diversities  of  opinion,  both  as  respects  its  object  and 
its  means.  By  some  it  is  regarded  as  a  mere  prepa 
ration  for  an  establishment  in  some  calling  or  profes 
sion;  by  others  as  the  guide  to  the  young  for  the 
discharge  of  all  their  duties  in  after-life ;  for  thor 
oughly  understanding  the  nature  of  every  relation 
that  may  be  thrown  upon  them,  and  of  applying  the 
highest  principles  and  the  greatest  power  in  every 
position  in  which  they  may  be  placed  ;  never  allow 
ing  them  for  a  moment  to  forget  that  they  are  heirs 
of  an  unending  life,  and  stewards  of  a  priceless  trust. 
The  former  is  the  popular  idea  of  collegiate  and  all 
other  education — the  latter  is  that  which  influences 
us  here.  To  educate  the  intellect,  to  purify  and 
direct  the  heart,  to  train  the  youthful  aspirants  to 
correct  motives  and  designs,  to  provide  them  with 
the  means  of  successfully  pursuing  any  career  which 


ME.     BETTS*     ADDRESS.  21 

they  may  hereafter  select,  these  are  the  ends  which 
this  College  has  essentially  in  view,  -in  its  system  of 
sub-graduate  instruction.  Nor  does  it  adopt  this  sys 
tem  unaided  by  the  lights  of  usage,  experience,  and 
authority.  The  gymnasia  of  Continental  Europe 
and  the  great  universities  of  the  English  Islands 
conduct  their  instruction  upon  this  principle  ;  and, 
especially  in  the  case  of  the  latter,  with  wonderful  suc 
cess.  The  great  thinkers  of  all  times  have  advocated 
the  cultivation  of  the  mind,  as  the  object  of  first 
importance ;  and  the  acquisition  and  application  of 
knowledge  as  altogether  secondary.  Of  the  great 
thinkers,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  point  to  one  in  the 
ancient,  and  another  in  modern  times. 

In  one  of  his  dialogues,  Plato  represents  Socrates, 
when  pointing  to  the  magnificent  works  that  extend 
ed  and  secured  the  commerce  of  Athens,  enlarged  her 
revenues,  and  filled  her  with  material  comforts,  and 
splendors,  and  luxuries,  as  calling  all  those  posses 
sions  the  merest  trifles  in  comparison  with  the  funda 
mental  virtues ;  nay,  more,  as  probable  causes  of 
future  misfortune,  and  their  projectors  as  authors,  not 
of  benefaction,  but  of  calamity. 

One  of  the  most  brilliant  intellects  of  our  own 
days  has  not  thought  this  subject  beneath  his  mighty 
mind.  A  liberal  education  is  defined  by  the  late  Sir 
William  Hamilton  to  be  "  an  education  in  which  the 


22  MR,    BETTS7   ADDKESS. 

individual  is  cultivated,  not  as  an  instrument  towards 
some  ulterior  end,  but  as  an  end  unto  himself  alone : 
in  other  words  as  an  education,  in  which  his  absolute 
perfection  as  a  man,  and  not  merely  his  relative 
dexterity  as  a  professional  man,  is  the  scope  imme 
diately  in  view."  To  add  to  these  authorities  would 
be  easy,  but  is  unnecessary. 

Looking  at  this  subject  from  any  point,  we  may 
safely  conclude  that  the  instruction  in  the  College, 
covering  the  period  of  life  between  boyhood  and 
manhood,  and  forming  the  bridge  by  which  we  pass 
from  home  into  the  world,  is  one  of  peculiar  im 
portance.  To  the  College  is  committed  the  mind  of 
the  future  man  at  this  critical  time ;  and  it  is  the  prop 
er  duty  of  the  College  to  direct  and  superintend  the 
mental  and  moral  culture,  and  to  form  the  mind  or 
man.  Moral  and  intellectual  discipline  is  the  object 
of  Collegiate  education.  The  mere  acquisition  of 
learning,  however  valuable  and  desirable  in  itself,  is 
subordinate  to  this  great  work.  Not  only  is  this  the 
peculiar  business  of  the  College,  but  in  the  College 
alone,  as  a  general  rule,  can  this  work  be  performed. 
The  design  of  a  College  is,  to  make  perfect  the  human 
intellect  in  all  its  parts  and  functions,  by  means  of  a 
thorough  training  of  the  intellectual  faculties  to  their 
full  development,  and,  by  the  proper  guidance  of 
the  moral  functions,  to  a  right  direction.  To  form 


MR.    BETTS5    ADDRESS.  23 

the  mind,  is,  in  short,  the  high  design  of  education 
as  sought  in  a  College  course. 

But  this  College,  in  the  enlargement  of  its  course 
and  of  its  objects,  does  not  propose  to  stop  short  here. 
Thus  far  the  intellectual  faculties  have  been  devel 
oped  and  strengthened  ;  and  a  right  direction  given 
to  the  moral  functions.  The  youth  is  now  supposed 
to  be  competent  to  begin  any  task  to  which  his 
strong  inclination,  or  peculiar  disposition,  may  di 
rect  him ;  and  which  he  may  undertake  with  greater 
prospect  of  usefulness  than  if  any  peculiar  class 
of  powers  had  been  cultivated,  to  the  neglect  of 
others. 

To  this  time  have  been  mainly  used  the  common 
means  of  education,  which  ^re  found  in  the  classics, 
the  mathematics,  and  the  teachings  of  moral  and 
mental  science,  in  connection  with  the  whole  history 
of  man,  his  thoughts,  his  relations,  duties,  deeds  and 
productions;  and  these,  it  is  thought,  properly  ap 
plied  and  industriously  appropriated,  will  produce 
the  fairest  result  of  a  finished  intellectual  discipline, 
and  present  an  accomplished  intellect,  prepared  for 
any  career,  competent  to  encounter  any  difficulties, 
in  learning,  in  morals,  or  in  action,  and  capable,  with 
courage  and  perseverance,  of  overcoming  or  remov 
ing  them. 

Then  it  is  that  the  post-graduate  or  university  es- 


24  MK.     BETTS'     ADDRESS. 

tablishment  offers  its  aid  in  the  prosecution  of  special 
pursuits,  excluding,  for  the  present,  the  faculties  of 
Theology  and  Medicine.  Then  the  young  student, 
following  the  road  which  has  been  partially  entered 
in  the  last  year  of  his  college  life,  may  direct  his  ex 
ertions  to  the  particular  calling  selected  for  his  future 
career ;  and  then  it  is  that  Science,  with  its  specula 
tions,  and  discoveries,  and  applications,  may  be  profit 
ably  studied. 

Permit  a  single  observation  more,  and  you  shall 
no  longer  be  detained  from  the  discourse  which  is  to 
follow. 

It  may  be  remarked,  that  while  augmentations 
have  been  made  to  all  the  other  chairs  of  the  college, 
those  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  alone  are  left  as  they 
were.  Do  not  attribute  this  to  any  diminution  of 
esteem  for  those  venerable  and  noble  languages. 
When  the  full  course  shall  be  in  operation,  adequate 
aid  will  not  be  wanting  to  those  chairs ;  but  their  in 
cumbents  are  both  able  and  willing  to  undertake  all 
the  present  labors,  heavy  though  they  be.  This  Col 
lege  ever  has  acted  upon  the  principle,  that  the  very 
best  means  of  intellectual  training  may  be  found  in 
the  learned  languages.  For  this  purpose,  these  lan 
guages  are  successfully  employed  from  the  period 
when  the  child  first  acquires  an  easy  mastery  of  his 
mother  tongue  for  ordinary  purposes,  down  to  the 


ME.     BETTS'     ADDKESS.  25 

time  when  the  intellect  becomes  vigorous  in  early 
manhood.  During  this  period,  the  learned  languages, 
by  their  novelty,  regular  structure  and  musical  beau 
ty,  awaken  a  love  of  study,  command  the  attention, 
strengthen  the  memory,  improve  the  reasoning  facul 
ty  and  the  judgment ;  call  into  action  exactness,  com 
parison,  invention,  self-reliance,  and  all  the  other 
faculties,  besides  laying  up  a  rich  store  of  beautiful 
images,  noble  sentiments,  worthy  examples,  and  a 
mass  of  facts  which,  dwelling  in  the  midst  of  harmo 
nious  and  perfect  tongues,  purify  the  heart,  exalt  and 
ennoble  the  principles,  create  and  cultivate  a  refined 
taste,  enlarge  the  understanding,  arouse  a  love  of  free 
dom  and  of  virtue ;  and,  in  short,  fill  the  whole  man 
with  a  power  of  appreciating  excellence. 

Wretched,  indeed,  would  be  the  day  for  this  insti 
tution,  should  she  lose  her  proud  position  as  the  Clas 
sical  College  of  the  country ;  saddened  the  hopes  of 
her  sons,  should  she  become  indifferent  to  the  pre 
cious  treasures  of  those  ancient  people.  Nowhere, 
since  the  creation  of  this  earth,  when  first  the  Al 
mighty  Spirit  spread  forth  his  wings  above  the  min 
gled  chaos,  and  with  the  fiat  of  his  word  called  it  to 
Light,  to  Order,  and  to  Life,  nowhere  and  at  no 
time  has  the  world  beheld  so  marvellous  an  exhibition 
of  intellectual  power,  as  in  the  Grecian  people,  dur 
ing  the  short  period  of  Grecian  domination ;  nowhere 


26  ME.    BETTS'    ADDEESS. 

so  exquisite  an  appreciation  of  beauty  in  all  its  forms, 
material  and  mental,  and  so  wonderful  a  power  of 
producing  it ;  nowhere  such  models  of  intelligence 
in  every  branch  of  human  acquisition  and  human  in 
quiry,  which  never  have  been  equalled  in  after-times, 
and  which  serve  to  show  of  what  the  human  mind  is 
capable. 

Nor  were  the  Romans  less  wonderful  in  their  pecu 
liar  character.  Deriving  many  of  their  acquisitions 
from  the  Greeks,  and  second  to  the  Greeks  alone, 
they  far  transcend  all  other  people,  and  throw  all 
other  histories  wholly  in  the  shade.  To  count  the 
gifts  we  have  received  from  these  two  nations, 
whether  in  their  laws,  their  literature,  their  customs, 
their  arts,  or  the  precious  legacy  of  the  Sacred  Scrip 
tures,  transmitted  in  the  Grecian  tongue,  we  could 
not  tell  where  to  begin,  or  where  to  end.  So  abund 
ant,  indeed,  are  their  productions,  so  precious  their 
treasures,  that  the  same  eulogy,  which  would  else 
where  be  extravagance,  becomes  to  them  but  truth. 
Never,  therefore,  may  this  venerable  institution  be 
come  insensible  to  the  value  of  classic  learning; 
never  may  she  cease  from  its  copious  fountains  to 
draw  exuberant  supplies  ;  never,  never,  may  she  for 
get  that,  saving  the  gift  of  the  Sacred  Writings,  in 
these  old  treasures  of  Greece  and  Rome  are  garnered 
the  most  precious  stores  of  deep  philosophy,  unequal- 


ME,   BETTS'   ADDEESS.  2Y 

led  wisdom,  of  unrivalled  eloquence,  of  poetic  excel 
lence  ;  and  there,  too,  those  marvels  of  artistic  beauty, 
elevating  the  imagination,  refining  the  sentiments  and 
purifying  the  heart,  which  age  after  age  admires 
and  wonders  at,  and  which  are  endued  with  a  grace 
and  loveliness  beyond  the  rivalry  and  almost  the  imi 
tation  of  modern  times.  Never  may  our  College 
cease  to  be  a  seminary  in  which  such  things  are 
taught,  and  through  which  a  knowledge  of  them 
may  in  some  measure  be  attained :  and  then,  when, 
in  her  after-course,  she  is  preparing  her  sons  for  the 
busy  tumults  of  life,  or  unfolding  to  them  the  strange 
secrets  of  the  material  world,  explaining  their  oper 
ations,  and  applying  their  powers  to  the  good  of 
man,  or  walking  with  them  in  the  high  regions  of 
the  heavenly  lights,  she  may  say  to  them,  My  sons,  I 
have  tried  in  all  things  to  perform  my  duty  ;  I  have 
opened  to  you  the  treasures  of  the  past  and  of  the 
present ;  I  have  sought  to  impart  to  you  not  only 
learning  but  understanding ;  I  have  taught  you  to 
regard  knowledge  no  otherwise  than  as  "  a  rich  store 
house  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  relief  of  man's 
estate  ;"'  and  I  charge  you,  as  you  value  the  privileges 
of  the  past  and  the  aspirations  of  the  future,  I 
charge  you,  never  to  apply  it  to  any  lower  pur 
poses. 


CHEMISTRY; 

AN 

INAUGURAL     ADDRESS, 

BeUberett  before  tije  trustees 

OF 

COLUMBIA     COLLEGE, 

February  4,  A.  D.  1868, 

BY     CHARLES     A.    JOY,     PH.  D., 

PROFESSOR  OF  CHEMISTRY  IN  COLUMBIA  COLLEGE. 


ADDRESS. 


IN  assuming  the  duties  of  the  Chair  to  which  the 
Trustees  of  Columbia  College  have  done  me  the  honor 
to  appoint  me,  it  is  proper  that  I  should  sketch  the 
rise  and  progress  of  the  science  which  I  am  called 
upon  to  teach,  and  vindicate  its  claims  to  be  regarded 
as  among  the  most  important  branches  of  human 
knowledge. 

CHEMISTRY  was  not  accorded  a  place  as  a  distinct 
science,  until  within  the  memory  of  men  still  living. 
The  name,  it  is  true,  had  existed  for  centuries. 
With  its  prefix  Al,  it  carries  us  away  back  to  its 
learned  Arabian  professors,  and  suggests  to  us  the  dis 
coveries  they  made  and  the  uses  they  made  of  them. 
But  it  was  not  until  the  world  had  profited  by  Black's 
researches  into  Fixed  Air,  and  Priestly  had  made  his 
immortal  discovery  of  Oxygen ;  not  until  Cavendish 
had  decomposed  the  ancient  element  of  Water,  and 
Lavoisier,  while  separating  the  pure  jewel  of  scien 
tific  truth  from  the  rubbish  of  ages,  and  extending,  by 
his  own  investigations,  the  boundaries  of  Chemical 
knowledge,  had  given  order  and  system  to  the  results 


32  ME.   JOY'S   ADDRESS. 

of  the  labors  of  his  predecessors  and  contemporaries 
that  Chemistry  was  entitled  to  an  independent  posi 
tion  among  the  sciences. 

It  is  pretty  evident  that  the  Egyptians,  at  a  very 
early  period,  had  far  outstripped  their  neighbors  in 
the  pursuit  of  knowledge,  and  that,  too,  of  various 
kinds,  but  more  especially  in  the  various  departments 
of  what  we  now  call  Natural  Philosophy.  Hence,  it 
is  common  to  attribute  to  them  considerable  acquaint 
ance  with  Chemical  facts.  But  whatever  may  have 
been  the  extent  of  this  knowledge,  it  would  seem 
that  it  was  confined  to  the  priests.  In  this  they  were 
by  no  means  alone,  for  such  was  then,  and  for  very 
long  after,  the  case  among  all  nations.  The  priest 
hood  was  the  great  repository  of  learning  of  every 
sort ;  the  religion,  the  laws,  and  the  government  were 
all  more  or  less  in  their  hands,  as  well  as  the  know 
ledge  of  the  facts  and  principles  on  which  were  based 
their  systems  of  both  mental  and  physical  philosophy, 
the  greater  part  of  which  they  seem  to  have  carefully 
concealed  from  the  popular  mind, 

It  was  to  these  Egyptians  that  the  Greeks  were  in 
debted  for  much  of  their  knowledge.  Then,  as  now, 
the  true  seekers  after  knowledge  and  truth  left  their 
homes  to  look  in  other  lands  for  additions  to  their 
stores.  And  it  was  when  thus  engaged  that  Pytha 
goras,  and  Solon,  and  Herodotus,  and  Plato,  and 


MR.    JOY'S    ADDRESS.  33 

others  of  the  mighty  and  noble  spirits  of  Greece 
gained  the  information  and  acquired  the  experience 
with  which  they  returned  to  their  own  land,  to  repro 
duce,  and  vastly  improve  upon,  what  they  had  learned 
from  the  sages  of  Egypt.  From  the  Greeks,  again, 
the  Romans  received  their  most  valuable  lessons,  in 
all  learning,  and  in  this,  our  particular  branch  of 
knowledge,  as  in  all  others.  Nor  were  they  at  all 
negligent  of  their  acquisitions,  for  they  soon  applied 
their  energy  and  newly  acquired  skill  in  such  a  way 
as  to  make  very  considerable  contributions  to  Chemi 
cal  Science. 

True,  they  both  had  some  strange  notions  about  the 
use  to  be  made  of  their  Chemical  knowledge,  which, 
however,  were  thoroughly  utilitarian.  The  notion  of 
transmuting  the  base  metals  into  gold  was  such  an  one. 
And  this  is  supposed  to  have  existed  among  the 
Greeks.  One  interpretation  of  the  Golden  Fleece  is, 
that  it  is  a  mythical  expression  for  a  parchment  on 
which  had  been  written  a  description  of  the  process 
of  making  gold.  Aristotle  recognized  four  elements, 
viz. :  Earth,  Air,  Fire  and  Water,  though  he  also 
taught  the  existence  of  still  another  substance  of  a 
more  ethereal  nature,  which  he  called  the  fifth  essence, 
or,  as  it  is  expressed  in  Latin,  essentia  qiiinta  (quin 
tessence)  ;  and  this  fifth  element  played  an  important 
part  in  the  controversies  of  after-ages. 


34  MR,   JOY'S    ADDRESS. 

These  strange  notions,  as  we  call  them,  did  not 
vanish  with  Grecian  eloquence,  or  fall  with  Roman 
power.  It  was  in  following  out  such  notions  that  the 
Alchemists  of  the  Middle  Ages  kept  on  searching  for 
the  Philosopher's  Stone,  that  great  transmuter  of  all 
base  things  into  veritable  gold.  Though  they  never 
found  the  stone,  we  have  this  day  to  thank  them 
for  the  many  valuable  discoveries  which  they  did 
make,  and  of  which  the  Chemists  of  the  18th  and 
19th  centuries  were  able,  to  much  purpose,  to  avail 
themselves. 

By  these  Alchemists  Sulphuric  Acid  was  discovered 
more  than  a  thousand  years  ago  ;  and  to  them  we  also 
owe  Muriatic  Acid,  Nitric  Acid,  Ammonia,  the  Fixed 
Alkalies,  Alcohol,  Ether,  and  many  Alloys  of  the 
Metals.  They  accounted  for  everything  in  what  we 
would  call  a  supernatural  way;  they  looked  upon 
bodies  not  merely  as  inorganic  masses,  but  they  taught 
the  presence  of  a  spirit  in  every  combination,  and,  in 
accordance  with  their  belief  and  their  teaching,  they 
gave  names  which  still  remain  in  daily  use  among  us. 
To  this  we  owe  such  names  as  Spirit  of  Wine,  Spirit 
of  Salt,  Spirit  of  Ether,  and  the  like.  At  a  later 
period,  Van  Helmont,  following  somewhat  in  their 
path,  gave  to  all  aeriform  bodies  the  name  of  Gheist 
or  Spirit,  and  from  which  we  derive  the  modern  word 
Gas. 


MR.    JOY'S    ADDRESS.  35 

As  they  taught  the  existence  of  a  spirit  in  bodies 
so  they  taught  that  these  bodies  were  affected  in 
various  ways.  The  baser  metals  they  spoke  of  as  dis 
eased  ;  Brass  was  diseased  Gold  ;  Quicksilver,  diseased 
Silver ;  and  so  they  accounted  for  all  the  phenomena 
of  nature  in  a  manner  which,  at  the  present  day,  it  is 
difficult  to  look  upon  as  having  ever  been  regarded  as 
philosophical.  For  example,  they  said  that  the  cause 
of  the  falling  of  a  body  is  its  weight,  and  that  weight 
is  the  tendency  of  a  body  to  fall.  A  stone  falls, 
said  they,  because  it  is  heavy,  that  is,  because  it 
has  a  tendency  to  downward  motion.  Opium,  they 
said,  produces  sleep,  because  it  is  a  body  to  which 
belongs  a  sleep-producing  property.  The  caustic  pro 
perties  of  Potash  were  said  to  be  due  to  a  something 
which  they  called  Causticum.  And  in  this  manner 
they  were  prepared  to  give  an  explanation  of  every 
phenomenon  of  nature. 

For  fourteen  hundred  years  no  Alchemist  ventured 
to  dispute  the  views  of  his  predecessors.  An  unqua 
lified  submission  to  the  traditions  of  the  past  charac 
terized  this  long  period.  But  the  founding  of  the 
Universities,  the  discovery,  first,  of  the  passage  round 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  then  of  the  American 
Continent,  gave  an  impulse  to  everything,  and  occasi 
oned  a  greater  interchange  of  knowledge  among  the 
nations,  whilst  the  seizure  of  Constantinople  by  the 


36  MR.   JOY'S   ADDRESS. 

Turks,  in  A.  D.  1453,  scattered  a  knowledge  of  the 
Arts  and  Sciences  throughout  Western  Europe.  The 
invention  of  Printing  and  the  events  of  the  Reform 
ation  put  an  end  to  the  blind  obedience  to  the 
authorities  of  the  past,  which  had  so  long  prevailed. 

Paracelsus  was  one  of  the  first  to  impart  a  new 
direction  to  Chemical  researches.  He  affirmed  that 
the  decayed  forces  of  the  human  constitution  might  be 
indefinitely  extended  by  means  within  the  reach  of 
man.  His  dreams  are  matters  of  amusement  now, 
but  the  value  of  his  influence,  in  breaking  up  the  old 
alchemistic  theories,  cannot  be  overrated.  He  was  a 
Harbinger  of  our  great  Science,  and  a  Pioneer  in  its 
work  of  discovery,  and  therefore  entitled  to  more 
than  a  passing  notice  in  its  History. 

Philip  Aureolus  Theophrastus  Paracelsus  Bombas- 
tus  von  Hohenheim,  as  he  styled  himself,  was  born  in 
Einsiedeln,  Switzerland,  A.  D.  1493.  His  father  was 
a  Physician,  and  early  instructed  him  in  Medicine, 
Astrology,  and  Alchemy.  Paracelsus  was  a  great 
traveler,  visiting  nearly  every  part  of  Europe,  and 
finally  retiring  to  Saltzburg,  where  he  died,  A.  D. 
1541.  Though  he  was  not  old  when  he  died,  it  was 
generally  believed  that  he  had  discovered  the  Elixir 
Vitse,  and  his  tomb  became  an  object  of  superstitious 
veneration.  Even  to  the  present  day  the  stones  about 
it  are  worn  away  by  the  numbers  who  come  to  pray 


MR.    JOY'S    ADDEESS.  37 

for  friends  afflicted  with  disease.  I  once  went  to  visit 
the  laboratory  of  this  remarkable  man.  A  tablet  on 
the  wall  indicated  the  house,  and  some  flowers  in  a 
window  showed  that  it  was  inhabited.  I  readily  ob 
tained  permission  to  examine  the  room  in  which  Para 
celsus  had  compounded  those  strange  mixtures  which 
are  not  dreamt  of  even  in  the  quackery  of  our  day. 
Scarcely  a  remnant  of  the  old  hearth  and  flues  re 
mained  ;  but  it  was  interesting  to  stand  upon  the 
spot  on  which  the  first  great  opposition  was  made  to 
the  Alchemistic  theories,  and  from  which  Chemistry 
first  started  upon  its  path  of  usefulness  to  mankind. 
For  two  hundred  years,  the  attention  of  Chemists  hav 
ing  been  withdrawn,  through  the  influence  of  Para 
celsus,  from  the  search  after  the  Philosopher's  Stone, 
investigators  took  the  direction  of  Pharmaceutical 
Chemistry,  and  some  important  discoveries  were  made. 

Stahl,  who  died  A.  D.  1685,  was  the  first  to  pro- 
mulge  the  Phlogistic  theory,  which  occupied  such  an 
important  place  in  the  studies  of  a  hundred  years. 

Phlogiston,  according  to  him.  was  present  in  every 
Chemical  phenomenon.  He  taught,  for  instance,  that 
Phosphorus,  when  burnt,  loses  its  Phlogiston,  and  that 
the  white  acid,  which  is  the  result  of  the  combustion, 
if  mixed  with  charcoal  and  distilled,  yields  Phosphorus, 
because  the  coal  gives  back  the  lost  Phlogiston  to  the 
Phosphorus.  And  it  is  remarkable  that,  although  the 


38  MR.   JOYS    ADDRESS. 

substance,  in  burning,  is  increased  in  weight,  they  still 
clung  to  the  idea  that  it  lost  Phlogiston,  though  this 
Phlogiston,  they  maintained,  was  possessed  of  levity, 
and  thus  made  a  body  lighter.  This  theory  was  stoutly 
maintained  for  a  hundred  years,  until  overturned  by 
the  grandest  of  all  Chemical  discoveries,  that  of  Oxy 
gen,  which  was  made  by  Joseph  Priestley,  on  the  first 
day  of  August,  A.  D.  17T4. 

A  dispute  in  the  French  Academy,  between  Cadet 
and  Baume,  about  the  red-oxide  of  Mercury,  led  to 
Priestley's  making  some  researches  into  the  properties 
of  this  compound.  He  concentrated  the  solar-rays 
upon  the  red-precipitate,  and  preserved  the  gas  which 
was-  evolved ;  he  applied  a  lighted  taper  to  this  gas, 
and  from  that  moment  the  discovery  had  been  made. 
According  to  his  own  account,  it  was  accident  which 
led  to  the  discovery,  but  accident  only  accords  such 
favors  to  those  who  deserve  them.  The  man  who 
had  discovered  nine  gases,  who  had  invented  all 
the  apparatus  necessary  to  prepare  and  study  them, 
could  well  have  laid  claim  to  this  immortal  dis 
covery. 

Chemistry,  as  a  distinct  science,  dates  from  this 
discovery.  It  is  nearly  of  the  same  age  as  our  Re 
public,  and,  in  its  way,  it  has  made  equal  progress  to 
greatness.  The  immortal  discoverer  of  Oxygen  sought 
refuge  in  this  country,  and  died  at  Northumberland, 


MR.    JOY'S    ADDRESS.  39 

Pennsylvania,  on  the  sixth  day  of  February,  A.  D. 
180-i,  in  the  71st  year  of  his  age. 

"  Westward  the  Star  of  Empire  takes  its  way." 

May  this  prove  true  in  Science  and  Art,  as  well  as  in 
political  advancement. 

There  is  something  sublime  in  the  thought  of  be 
ing  the  discoverer  of  such  an  element  as  Oxygen. 
When  we  contemplate  its  abundance,  its  necessity  to 
the  very  existence  of  all  animated  nature,  and  the 
part  it  plays  everywhere,  we  are  struck  with  amaze 
ment  that  it  should  have  remained  so  long  unknown, 
and  are  able  to  appreciate  more  fully  the  importance 
of  its  discovery. 

Independently  of  Priestley,  and  about  the  same 
time,  the  famous  Swedish  Chemist,  Scheele,  made  the 
same  discovery ;  but  to  Priestley  is  due  the  honor  of 
having  laid  the  foundation  upon  which  the  whole 
superstructure  of  Chemistry  has  since  been  built. 

We  must  not  pass  from  the  last  century  into  our 
own,  without  mentioning,  with  due  honor,  the  name 
of  Lavoisier,  for  the  world  is  chiefly  indebted  to  the 
genius  of  this  great  man  for  the  invention  of  that 
new  Nomenclature  in  Chemistry  which  marked  a 
brilliant  era  in  the  History  of  the  Science. 

This  remarkable  man,  "  possessed  of  fortune  suffi 
cient  to  secure  to  him  all  the  gratifications  of  luxury, 
all  the  splendors  of  a  princely  establishment,  gave  his 


40  ME.    JOY'S    ADDRESS. 

time  and  his  enthusiasm  to  the  Science  of  Chemistry. 
But,  unfortunately,  he  took  such  an  active  part  in  the 
first  scenes  of  the  French  Revolution  as  to  render 
himself  obnoxious  to  Robespierre.  He  was  pursued 
to  his  retreat,  where  he  was  carrying  on  a  train  of 
magnificent  Chemical  Experiments,  and  hurried 
thence  to  the  scaffold."  There  were  few  victims  of 
those  bloody  times  who  could  not  have  been  better 
spared  than  this  illustrious  man.  Strange  fate  of  the 
two  great  founders  of  Chemistry,  the  one  beheaded, 
the  other  driven  an  exile  to  a  foreign  land. 

It  was  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  that 
Berzelius,  the  most  illustrious  of  all  the  Chemists  that 
ever  lived,  first  appeared  as  an  independent  investiga 
tor  in  the  field  of  Physical  Science.  Volta  had  given 
to  the  world  the  Battery  which  bears  his  name,  and 
the  whole  Scientific  community  was  in  excitement 
upon  the  subject.  Berzelius  entered  upon  investiga 
tions  by  aid  of  the  Battery,  and  he  was  the  first  to 
discover  the  thread  which  has  led  to  the  explanation 
of  many  of  the  mysteries  in  Chemical  combinations. 
The  account  of  the  investigations,  in  the  course  of 
which  he  systematized  bodies  in  reference  to  their  posi 
tive  and  negative  poles,  was  published  in  Gelilerfs 
Journal,  during  the  year  1803.  Three  years  later 
(in  1806),  Sir  Humphrey  Davy  published  an  account 
of  similar  researches,  in  which  he  made  no  mention 


MR.    JOY'S    ADDRESS.  41 

of  Berzelius,  and  for  which  he  received  from  Napole 
on  the  prize  of  three  thousand  francs,  for  the  most 
valuable  researches  in  Voltaism. 

After  the  discovery  of  the  Metals  of  the  Alkalies, 
in  the  year  1.807,  Berzelius  continued  his  researches, 
and  was  the  first  to  use  Mercury  at  one  of  the  poles 
of  the  Battery.  It  was  not,  however,  with  Voltaism 
alone  that  Berzelius,  in  his  earlier  years,  occupied 
his  time.  The  great  Mineralogist,  Hisinger,  induced 
him  to  turn  his  attention  to  the  quantitative  analysis 
of  minerals.  He  acknowledged  to  Rose,  in  after- 
years,  that  these  investigations  were  undertaken  more 
to  oblige  Hisinger  than  for  any  particular  interest  they 
had  for  himself.  But,  after  the  discovery  of  the  great 
law  of  Chemical  proportions,  the  case  was  different. 

Berzelius  was  compelled  to  earn  his  living  as  a 
practicing  physician.  This,  at  times,  gave  a  particu 
lar  turn  to  his  investigations.  Hence,  we  find  him 
examining  Medicinal  Springs ;  or  establishing,  at 
Stockholm,  the  manufacture  of  artificial  Mineral  Wa 
ters  ;  or,  as  a  physician,  early  giving  his  attention  to 
Physiological  and  Organic  Chemistry,  and  it  is  from 
this  circumstance  that  we  are  indebted  to  him  for 
many  new  and  beautiful  processes  of  Analysis.  Then 
again  we  find  him,  in  some  of  his  earliest  efforts,  busy 
in  the  examination  of  Silica  and  Cast  Iron. 

During  the  first  decennary  of  this  century,  Berze- 


42  ME.    JOY  S    ADDEESS. 

lius  was  induced,  by  the  general  interest  in  Galvan 
ism,  by  the  influence  of  his  friend  Hisinger,  and  by  his 
own  necessities  as  a  Physician,  to  make  scientific  re 
searches  ;  but,  after  the  idea  of  Chemical  proportions 
was  started,  he  devoted  all  his  energies  to  Chemistry ; 
he  soon  put  forth  the  Law  of  these  proportions,  and 
upon  that  Law  he  founded  all  the  subsequent  experi 
ments  and  researches  of  his  life.  He  examined  with  the 
greatest  care,  and  by  different  modes  of  Analysis,  a 
vast  number  of  Chemical  compounds,  and  was  thus  led 
to  discover  many  methods  of  analysis,  which  are  still 
pursued.  These  researches  and  their  results  were  pub 
lished  in  the  year  1810.  At  the  time  they  were  carried 
on,  Re-agents  were  scarcely  to  be  had  in  Sweden,  and 
Berzelius  was  compelled  to  make  them  for  himself; 
even  Alcohol  and  the  most  ordinary  Acids  wrere  pre 
pared  in  his  own  Laboratory.  The  extraordinary 
spectacle  was,  at  this  time,  presented  to  the  world,  of 
a  Philosopher  at  work  in  his  kitchen,  making  re 
searches  which  were  destined  to  revolutionize  Chem 
ical  Science,  and  for  which  the  world  could  not  have 
adequately  compensated  him  if  it  had  erected  for 
him  a  Laboratory  of  solid  gold  ;  while  by  his  side,  at 
the  same  hearth,  his  faithful  servant,  Anne,  was  pre 
paring  his  frugal  meal.  He  introduced  more  accurate 
Balances ;  the  use  of  smaller  amounts  of  substances 
for  analysis  ;  the  lamp  which  bears  his  name  ;  plati- 


ME.    JOY?S    ADDRESS.  43 

num-crucibles ;  Swedish  filtering-paper ;  funnels ; 
beaker  glasses;  and  many  pieces  of  apparatus  wliicli 
now  seem  to  us  very  common  and  simple  indeed.  He 
was  also  the  first  to  make  the  Laboratory  a  light  and 
cheerful  study  instead  of  a  dark  and  dismal  cellar. 
As  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  economize  in  every 
thing,  he  took  lessons  in  Glass-blowing,  and  learned 
the  trade  of  the  Joiner,  so  that  he  could  make  nearly 
all  of  his  apparatus  himself.  It  was  in  the  year  1815 
that  Berzelius  introduced  the  symbols  which  are  now 
employed  in  the  place  of  the  Alchemistic  figures, 
which  are  retained  only  to  designate  the  planets, 
and  was  thus  enabled  to  express  the  Chemical 
composition  of  different  bodies  by  Formulae.  Dai- 
ton  had  undertaken,  in  the  year  1808,  to  establish 
some  simple  method  for  expressing  the  composition 
of  bodies,  but  it  was  not  so  practical  as  the  one 
prepared  by  Berzelius,  and  is,  at  present,  scarcely 
known.  It  was  not  until  he  had  occupied  ten  years 
in  examining  the  elements  and  their  combinations 
that  Berzelius  was  able  to  publish,  in  the  year  1818, 
his  Tables,  containing  the  Atomic-weights  of  nearly 
two  thousand  simple  and  compound  bodies. 

It  has  already  been  said  that  Berzelius,  at  an  early 
period,  gave  some  attention  to  Organic  Chemistry. 
The  first  important  analyses  in  this  department  were 
made  by  Thenard  and  Gay-Lussac,  in  the  year  1811. 


44  ME.    JOY'S    ADDKESS. 

But,  iii  the  year  1814,  Berzelius  published  a  paper  on 
this  subject,  in  which  he  applied  the  Law  of  Chem 
ical-proportions  to  Organic  Bodies.  He  found  that 
Organic  Acids,  and  even  indifferent  substances,  form 
ed  compounds  of  fixed  proportions  with  Organic 
Oxides.  This  originated  the  Radical  theory,  and 
through  its  application  we  are  able  to  ascertain  the 
Atomic- weights  of  Organic  substances. 

Since  the  death  of  Berzelius  many  Radicals,  pro 
posed  by  him  as  hypothetical,  have  been  confirmed  by 
actual  discovery. 

The  discovery  and  investigation  of  the  properties  of 
Selenium  was  one  of  the  greatest  works  of  Berzelius. 
Excepting  the  discovery  of  Selenic  acid,  in  the  year 
1827,  by  his  pupil,  Mitscherlich,  very  little  has  since 
been  added  to  our  knowledge  of  this  metal.  "  The 
investigations  upon  this  element,"  says  Rose,  "  were 
made  with  half  an  ounce  of  substance,  a  part  of  which 
was  lost  by  the  carelessness  of  a  servant."  The 
beauty  of  the  work  can  only  be  compared  with  that 
of  the  investigations  upon  Iodine  by  Gay-Lussac. 
Berzelius  examined  one  hundred  and  twenty  Salts  of 
Sulphur,  many  of  them  quantitatively.  The  publica 
tion  of  his  famous  Hand-book  occasioned  the  examin 
ation  of  a  vast  number  of  substances,  the  composi 
tion  of  which  had  never  been  satisfactorily  determined. 
It  is  rarely  within  the  ability  of  one  man  to  leave 


ME.   JOY'S    ADDEESS.  45 

such  a  monument  of  greatness  behind  him.  As  long 
as  Chemistry  endures,  this  book  will  claim  a  place  in 
every  Laboratory,  and  the  name  of  Berzelius  will  be 
mentioned  with  honor. 

I  cannot  now  speak  of  his  many  other  contributions 
to  Chemical  Science.  His  last  great  work  was  the 
Examination  of  Meteorites,  in  which,  without  success, 
he  sought  to  discover  some  new  elements.  His  age 
and  frequent  headaches  did  not  admit  of  his  working 
in  the  Laboratory.  He  complained  of  frs  eyes  and  of 
loss  of  memory.  As  he  could  not  carry  on  his  prac 
tical  labors,  he  devoted  so  much  the  more  time  to  the 
theory  and  literature  of  the  Science.  After  he  became 
permanent  Secretary  of  the  Royal  Academy  he  was 
successful  in  introducing  yearly  reports  of  the  progress 
of  the  Sciences.  He  undertook,  as  his  part,  Physics, 
Mineralogy,  Geology,  and  all  branches  of  Chemistry. 

His  first  Report,  which  was  made  thirty-six  years 
ago,  was  contained  hi  a  very  thin  octavo  volume.  At 
the  present  time  such  a  volume  could  not  contain  the 
index  of  the  discoveries  made  in  one  year,  nor  would 
it,  now,  be  within  the  power  of  one  mind  to  gather 
in  and  store  up  the  vast  harvest  which  the  wide  field 
covered  by  these  Sciences  at  this  day  yields. 

When  Berzelius  visited  Germany,  in  the  year  1845, 
he  was  everywhere  received  by  the  students  with  ad 
dresses,  processions,  and  other  tokens  of  honor.  His 


46  MR.    JOY'S   ADDRESS. 

pupils,  already  great  and  renowned,  flocked  round 
him,  and  lie  had  no  occasion  to  be  ashamed  of  any 
of  them.  One  day  when,  in  company  with  Huni- 
boldt,  Mitscherlich,  the  two  Roses,  Woehler,  Ehren- 
berg,  and  von  Buch,  he  drove  out  to  the  environs  of 
Berlin,  they  stopped  to  examine  a  Boulder  outside 
the  gate.  What  a  group  was  standing  around  this 
erratic  mass  !  each  contributing,  of  his  vast  knowledge, 
to  resolve  some  question  connected  with  its  history. 
Berzelius  could  give  its  exact  Chemical  composition ; 
Mitscherlich  apply  his  Law  of  Isomorphism ;  Woehler 
tell  whether  any  of  the  Elements  discovered  by  him 
were  contained  in  it ;  Henry  Rose  prescribe  the  best 
methods  of  analysis ;  Gustavus  Rose  measure  accurately 
every  crystal;  Leopold  von  Buch  explain  its  Geo 
logical  origin;  Ehrenberg  find  former  life  in  its 
minutest  grains ;  while  the  comprehensive  genius  of 
Humboldt  could  sum  up  the  case  for  all  sides,  and  pro 
nounce  a  decision  to  which  every  one  would  cheerfully 
submit.  A  piece  of  this  Boulder  was  broken  off,  and 
carried  to  Gcettingen  by  Woehler ;  it  afterwards  found 
its  way  to  this  country,  and  is  now  preserved  at  Am- 
herst  College. 

I  have  dwelt  thus  long  upon  the  name  and  works 
of  Berzelius,  because,  in  speaking  of  Chemistry,  that 
name  and  those  works  are  so  interwoven  with  the 
history  of  that  Science,  that  neither  can  be  fairly  pre- 


MK.    JOY'S    ADDRESS.  47 

sented  without  displaying  the  other.  His  influence, 
too,  is  not  limited  to  his  personal  labors,  but  still  lives 
in  the  pupils  he  trained.  It  is  remarkable  how  many 
eminent  men  received  their  first  impulse  in  his  Labor 
atory.  Mitscherlich,  Henry  and  Gustavus  Rose, 
Magnus,  Gmelin,  Wcehler  and  Turner  were  among 
the  number. 

It  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  sit  at  the  feet  of 
some  of  these  pupils  of  Berzelius,  and  through  them  I 
have  endeavored  to  draw  inspirations  from  his  instruc 
tions  ;  and  I  feel  that  I  am  but  paying  a  small  portion 
of  the  debt  due  to  a  great  teacher,  by  whose  lessons 
I  have  thus  profited,  as  well  as  performing  an  appro 
priate  duty  on  this  public  inauguration  of  my  appoint 
ment  to  this  Chair  of  Chemistry,  in  thus  rendering 
my  humble  homage  to  his  exalted  genius. 

Time  will  not  allow  me  to  dwell  any  longer  on  the 
History  of  Chemistry.  The  sketch  already  given 
shows  its  very  recent  origin,  and  its  rapid  growth. 
As  an  Abstract  Science,  its  progress  has  been  wonder 
ful.  It  has  almost  approached  the  Mathematics  in  its 
definite  precision,  and  it  may  be  said  to  be  daily  as 
suming  a  more  and  more  strictly  Mathematical  form. 
But  it  is  not  confined  to  abstract  principles ;  it  has 
descended  into  the  daily  walks  of  practical  life.  Some 
of  its  greatest  discoveries  have  become  so  familiar  in 
their  practical  applications,  that  we  almost  forget 


48  MR.    JOY'S   ADDRESS. 

their  scientific  origin.  In  the  trite  allusions  to  the 
triumphs  of  the  Steam-engine  and  of  the  Electric 
Telegraph,  the  obligations  we  owe  to  Chemistry  are 
well  nigh  forgotten.  How  few  are  there  who,  behold 
ing  the  beautiful  light  which  sheds  its  lustre  around 
us  this  evening,  remember  that  to  the  labors  of  men 
of  Science  we  owe  this  great  social  blessing.  "  When 
the  earth  brought  forth  grass,  the  herb  yielding  seed, 
and  the  fruit  tree  yielding  fruit,  and  GOD  had  said 
c  Let  there  be  light,7  and  there  was  light,"  each  ray 
of  sunshine,  as  it  impinged  upon  tree  or  flower,  was 
caught  up,  and  held  in  close  embrace,  and,  with  the 
decay  of  the  plant,  was  carried  down  into  the  earth, 
changed  by  slow  degrees  in  form,  and  there  kept  a 
close  prisoner,  until  the  genius  of  man  could  deliver 
it  from  its  bondage.  These  imprisoned  sunbeams, 
after  the  lapse  of  ages,  are  set  at  liberty  at  the  beck 
of  man,  and  here  we  see  them  gashing  forth,  from 
many  a  jet,  turning  our  night  into  brilliant  day.  If 
Chemistry  had  contributed  no  other  blessing  to  the 
world,  this  alone  would  have  entitled  it  to  the  grati 
tude  of  man. 

The  practical  utility  of  Abstract  Science  is  not  re 
cognized  by  the  bulk  of  mankind.  They  become  so 
familiar  with  the  Material  results,  that  they  forget 
altogether  its  Scientific  origin,  and  sometimes  look 
with  scorn  upon  studies  which  are  now  laying  the 


MR.    JOY  S   ADDKESS.  49 

foundation  for  practical  good  for  a  future  generation. 
As  Baron  von  Liebig  well  remarks,  "  In  our  schools 
mere  children  are  now  taught  truths,  the  attainment 
of  which  has  cost  immense  labor  and  indescribable 
effort.  They  smile  when  we  tell  them  that  an  Italian 
Philosopher  wrote  an  elaborate  Treatise  to  prove  that 
the  snow  found  upon  Mount  JEtna  consists  of  the  same 
substance  as  the  snow  upon  the  Alps  of  Switzerland, 
and  that  he  heaped  proof  upon  proof  that  both  these 
snows,  when  melted,  yielded  water  possessed  of  the 
same  properties. 

"  When  a  school-boy  takes  a  glass  full  of  liquid,  and, 
placing  a  loose  piece  of  paper  over  it,  inverts  the  glass 
without  spilling  a  drop  of  its  contents,  he  only  as 
tonishes  another  child  by  his  performance,  and  yet 
this  is  the  identical  experiment  which  renders  the 
name  of  Torricelli  immortal.  Our  children  have  more 
correct  notions  of  Nature  and  Natural  phenomena 
than  had  Plato  !  They  may  laugh  at  the  errors  com 
mitted  by  Pliny  in  his  Natural  History."  Indeed,  no 
Science  exhibits  more  beautifully  the  harmony  be 
tween  Abstract  truth  and  Practical  utility ;  and  there 
is  none  in  which  thorough  cultivation  is  more  directly 
beneficial  to  the  world  at  large.  The  Chemists  of 
the  world  are  accumulating  a  great  store  of  knowl 
edge,  the  utility  of  which,  to  the  human  race,  can 
hardly  be  overrated.  Its  far-reaching  results  extend 


50  MB.    JOY'S    ADDKESS. 

to  almost  every  article  of  human  use ;  and  Scientific 
truths,  which  now  seem  without  any  practical  utility, 
will,  without  doubt,  yield  rich  fruits  to  another  gener 
ation. 

But,  of  all  countries  where  the  cultivation  of 
Science  would  produce  the  most  useful  results,  our 
own  stands  conspicuous.  With  the  natural  wealth  so 
richly  spread  over  our  wide  Empire,  in  all  that  the 
bounteous  earth  produces,  and  the  hidden  stores  she 
carries  in  her  bosom,  our  countrymen  need  but  the 
key  which  Science  gives  to  enable  them  to  unlock 
their  treasure-house.  But  their  impatience  for  results, 
their  excessively  practical  character,  make  them  miss 
the  success  they  might  securely  attain  by  pursuing 
the  proper  method  with  patience  and  perseverance. 
How  many  wild  schemes  of  speculation  might  have 
been  avoided,  how  many  fortunes  saved  from  ruin  by 
a  proper  application  of  Scientific  knowledge !  No 
greater  benefaction  could  be  bestowed  on  our  coun 
try  than  to  diffuse  everywhere  within  its  borders 
sound  Scientific  principles,  and  any  measures  tending 
to  this  end  must  contribute,  directly  and  largely,  to 
the  public  good.  Our  country  needs  not  only  the 
widest  diffusion,  but  also  the  highest  grade  of  Science. 
How  can  it  be  attained  ?  By  devising  and  putting 
into  operation  the  means  adequate  to  produce  the 
desired  result. 


ME.    JOY'S    ADDEESS.  51 


The  great  want  of  this  country  is  a  University 
where  Science  can  be  taught  far  beyond  the  usual 
College  course,  where  the  students  may  be  led  into 
the  profounder  regions  of  the  interpretation  of  phe 
nomena,  as  well  as  into  the  practical  application  of 
Science  to  the  daily  wants  of  man. 

We  present  the  extraordinary  spectacle  of  a  nation 
possessing  unbounded  wealth,  and  yet  affording  no 
aid  to  that  very  Science  to  which  we  are  chiefly  in 
debted  for  our  material  success.  A  University  is  the 
great  educational  want  of  America,  In  other  lands 
the  government  extends  its  protection  and  aid  not 
only  to  Elementary  Schools  and  Colleges,  but  also  to 
Universities.  Some  part  of  what  is  done  by  govern 
ments  abroad,  is  effected  by  private  munificence  here, 
at  home.  All  honor  to  men  like  Lawrence,  Peabody, 
Astor,  Lennox,  Nott,  Delavan,  and  to  one  in  our  own 
city,  who  has  erected  a  massive  structure  to  be  devo 
ted  to  Science  and  Art,  and  which,  notwithstanding 
another  corporate  name,  will  ever  be  known  as  THE 
COOPEE  INSTITUTE. 

We  need  more  such  men  to  aid  us  in  carrying  out 
the  work ;  but  the  founding  and  building  up  of  a 
Unversity  is  beyond  the  power  of  individual  effort. 
May  we  not  consider  it  Providential  that  Columbia 
College  is.  placed  in  a  position  which  will  enable  her 
to  confer  this  great  blessing  on  our  land  ?  Placed  at 


52  ME.    JOY'S    ADDKESS. 

the  great  centre  of  all  tlie  interests  of  our  country, 
with  the  heaving  vitality  which  is  around  her,  and 
with  ample  means,  we  may  safely  indulge  the  hope 
that  the  great  scheme,  which  her  Trustees  have  form 
ed,  will  be  carried  out  to  completion,  and  that,  at 
some  not  distant  day,  a  great  University  will  be  es 
tablished,  which  will  afford  a  home  for  those  scholars 
who  are  now  driven  to  foreign  lands  to  perfect  them 
selves  in  Science.  But  great  as  the  present  advantages 
and  the  prospective  wealth  of  Columbia  may  be,  the 
aid  of  every  lover  of  education  will  be  needed  to 
secure  success.  I  feel  confident  that  this  aid  will  not 
be  wanting,  that  the  dishonor  of  America  will  soon 
be  wiped  away,  and  that  we  shall  see  a  University 
worthy  of  the  name,  and  worthy  of  our  country. 
When  that  day  comes  our  young  men  will  find  other 
professions  besides  the  few  which  they  can  now  pur 
sue,  and  they  will  discover,  in  Science,  charms  far 
more  attractive  than  can  be  found  in  the  frivolous 
amusements  and  ignoble  dissipations  by  which  they 
are,  now,  too  often  led  away.  Chemistry,  alone,  is  com 
prehensive  enough  to  receive  all  who  may  wish  to  ap 
proach  her.  The  separate  fields  of  Pharmacy,  Agri 
culture,  Analysis,  Physiology,  Technology,  and  Organic 
Chemistry,  have  been  but  partially  explored.  We  are 
upon  the  threshold  of  discovery  in  them  all,  and  the 
progress  of  Science  stands  still  for  want  of  laborers. 


MR.    JOY'S    ADDRESS.  53 

On  surveying  this  vast  and  ever-spreading  field, 
ever  opening,  as  it  is,  into  new  regions  with  each 
new  accession  of  knowledge,  I  am  awe-struck,  and  feel 
almost  rebuked  for  my  presumption  in  undertaking, 
single-handed,  to  introduce  the  pupils  of  Columbia 
College  into  this  boundless  domain  of  Science.  I 
look  forward,  however,  to  the  better  day  of  the  Uni 
versity,  when  I  shall  have  the  co-operation  and  sup 
port  of  fellow-laborers  in  this  great  field,  each  culti 
vating  his  own  portion  of  the  domain,  each  adding  to 
the  great  common  stock  of  Scientific  Truth,  and  all 
raising  still  higher  the  renown  of  this  venerable  In 
stitution,  and  rendering  it  more  and  more  a  glory  and 
blessing  to  our  country. 


INAUGURAL    ADDRESS 


OP 


FRANCIS  LIEBER,  LL.  D., 

professor  0f  pstofg  aitir  f  olitical  j 

Delivered  on  the  17th  of  February,  1858. 


ADDRESS. 


The  author,  requested  by  the  Board  of  Trustees  to  prepare  a  copy 


ERRATA. 

Page  73,  lino   15,  read  ANEW  for  NEW. 
"      <r>.     "      IT,       "       is      for  ARE. 

*    105,       "        18,          "       THEMSELVES  for  SELVES. 

"   114,     "     23,  leave  out  the  words,  THE  MEMORY  OF. 


jj.il  inanit 


are  met  together  to  reverence  a  great  cause  or  to  do 
homage  to  noble  names,  it  is  a  solemn  hour,  and  you 
have  assigned  a  part  in  this  solemnity  to  me.  I 
stand  here  at  your  behest.  No  one  of  you  expects 
that  I  should  laud  the  sciences  which  form  my  par 
ticular  pursuit,  above  all  others.  Every  earnest  schol 
ar,  every  faithful  student  of  any  branch,  is  a  catholic 
lover  of  all  knowledge.  I  would  rather  endeavor, 
had  I  sufficient  skill,  to  raise  before  you  a  triumphal 
arch  in  honor  of  the  sciences  which  you  have  con- 


.  A  T  A  fl  fl  3. 


.5TJIA     TO*}          Sf 

fo't  8avJM8M3f{T       "  81        "          "Of 

.TO    YHOMHM    3HT  .ablOV/  Offt    fffo  y-/gj,|      po       ..         ±  t  I 


ADDRESS. 


The  author,  requested  by  the  Board  of  Trustees  to  prepare  a  copy 
of  his  inaugural  address  for  publication,  has  given  the  substance, 
and  in  many  places  his  words,  as  originally  delivered,  so  far  as  he 
remembered  them ;  but,  some  of  his  friends  in  the  Board,  having 
advised  him  not  to  restrict  himself  in  the  written  address,  to  the 
limits  necessary  for  one  that  is  spoken,  he  has  availed  himself  of  this 
liberty,  in  writing  on  topics  so  various  and  comprehensive,  as  those 
that  legitimately  belong  to  the  branches  assigned  to  him  in  this 
institution.  The  extent  of  this  paper  will  sufficiently  indicate  this. 


GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  BOAKD  OF  TRUSTEES: 

We  are  again  assembled  to  do  honor  to  the 
cause  of  knowledge — to  that  sacred  cause  of  learn 
ing,  inquiry  and  rearing  to  learn  and  to  inquire ;  of 
truth,  culture,  wisdom,  of  humanity.  Whenever  men 
are  met  together  to  reverence  a  great  cause  or  to  do 
homage  to  noble  names,  it  is  a  solemn  hour,  and  you 
have  assigned  a  part  in  this  solemnity  to  me.  I 
stand  here  at  your  behest.  No  one  of  you  expects 
that  I  should  laud  the  sciences  which  form  my  par 
ticular  pursuit,  above  all  others.  Every  earnest  schol 
ar,  every  faithful  student  of  any  branch,  is  a  catholic 
lover  of  all  knowledge.  I  would  rather  endeavor, 
had  I  sufficient  skill,  to  raise  before  you  a  triumphal 
arch  in  honor  of  the  sciences  which  you  have  con- 


58  ADDKESS 

fided  to  ray  teaching,  with  some  bas-reliefs  and  some 
entablatures,  commemorating  victories  achieved  by 
them  in  the  field  of  common  progress ;  taking  heed 
however  that  I  do  not  fall  into  the  error  of  attempt 
ing  to  prove  "  to  the  Spartans  that  Hercules  was  a 
strong  man." 

Before  I  proceed  to  do  the  honorable  duty  of  this 
evening,  I  ask  your  leave  to  express  on  this,  the  first 
opportunity  which  has  offered  itself,  my  acknowledg 
ment  for  the  suffrages  which  have  placed  me  in  the 
chair  I  now  occupy.  You  have  established  a  profes 
sorship  of  political  science  in  the  most  populous  and 
most  active  city  in  the  widest  commonwealth  of 
an  intensely  political  character ;  and  this  chair  you 
have  unanimously  given  to  me.  I  thank  you  for 
your  confidence. 

Sincere,  however,  as  these  acknowledgments  are, 
warmer  thanks  are  due  to  you,  and  not  only  my  own, 
but  I  believe  I  am  not  trespassing  when  I  venture  to 
offer  them  in  the  name  of  this  assemblage,  for  the 
enlargement  of  our  studies.  You  have  engrafted  a 
higher  and  a  wider  course  of  studies  on  your  ancient 
institution  which  in  due  time  may  expand  into  a  real, 
a  national  university,  a  university  of  large  found 
ation  and  of  highest  scope,  as  your  means  may 
increase  and  the  public  may  support  your  endeavors. 
So  be  it. 


OF    MR.     LIEBER.  59 

We  stand  in  need  of  a  national  university,  the 
highest  apparatus  of  the  highest  modern  civilization. 
We  stand  in  need  of  it,  not  only  that  we  may  appear 
clad  with  equal  dignity  among  the  sister  nations  of 
our  race,  but  on  many  grounds  peculiar  to  ourselves. 
A  national  university  in  our  land  seems  to  have  be 
come  one  of  those  topics  on  which  the  public  mind 
conies  almost  instinctively  to  a  conclusion,  and  whose 
reality  is  not  unfrequently  preceded  by  prophetic 
rumor.  They  are  whispered  about ;  their  want  is 
felt  by  all ;  it  is  openly  pronounced  by  many  until 
wisdom  and  firmness  gather  the  means  and  resolutely 
provide  for  the  general  necessity.  There  is  at  pres 
ent  an  active  movement  of  university  reform  prevail 
ing  in  most  countries  of  Europe ;  others  have  insti 
tutions  of  such  completeness  as  was  never  known 
before,  and  we,  one  of  the  four  leading  nations,  ought 
not  to  be  without  our  own,  a  university,  not  national, 
because  established  by  our  national  government ; 
that  could  not  well  be,  and  if  it  were,  surely  would 
not  be  well ;  but  I  mean  national  in  its  spirit,  in  its 
work  and  effect,  in  its  liberal  appointments  and  its 
comprehensive  basis.  I  speak  fervently  ;  I  hope,  I 
speak  knowingly ;  I  speak  as  a  scholar,  as  an  Ameri 
can  citizen ;  as  a  man  of  the  nineteenth  century  in 
which  the  stream  of  knowledge  and  of  education 
courses  deep  and  wide.  I  have  perhaps  a  special 


60  ADDRESS 

right  to  urge  this  subject,  for  I  am  a  native  of  that 
city  which  is  graced  with  the  amplest  and  the  highest 
university  existing.  I  know,  not  only  what  that 
great  institution  does,  but  also  what  it  has  effected  in 
tunes  of  anxious  need.  When  Prussia  was  humbled, 
crippled,  and  impoverished  beyond  the  conception  of 
those  that  have  never  seen  with  their  bodily  eyes 
universal  destitution  and  national  ruin,  there  were 
men  left  that  did  not  despair,  like  the  foundation 
walls  of  a  burnt  house.  They  resolved  to  prepare 
even  in  those  evil  days,  even  in  presence  of  the  vic 
torious  hosts,  which  spread  over  the  land  like  an 
inundation  in  w^hich  the  ramified  system  of  police 
drew  the  narrow-meshed  seine  for  large  and  small 
victims — even  then  to  prepare  for  a  time  of  resusci 
tation.  The  army,  the  taxes,  the  relation  of  the  peas 
ant  to  the  landholder,  the  city  government  and  the 
communal  government — all  branches  of  the  adminis 
tration  were  reformed,  and,  as  a  measure  of  the 
highest  statesmanship,  the  moral  and  intellectual  ele 
vation  of  the  whole  nation  was  decided  upon.  Those 
men  that  reformed  every  branch  of  government  reso 
lutely  invigorated  the  mind  of  the  entire  realm  by 
thorough  education,  by  an  all-pervading  common 
school  system,  which  carries  the  spelling-book  and 
the  multiplication  table  to  every  hut,  by  high  schools 
of  a  learned  and  of  a  polytechnical  character,  and  by 


OF     MR.     LIEBER.  61 

universities  of  the  loftiest  aim.  The  universities,  still 
remaining  in  the  reduced  kingdom  were  reformed, 
and  a  national  university  was  planned,  to  concentrate 
the  intellectual  rays  and  to  send  back  the  intensified 
light  over  the  land.  It  was  then  that  men  like  Stein, 
one  of  the  greatest  statesmen  Europe  has  produced, 
and  the  scholar-statesman  William  Humboldt — his 
brother  Alexander  went  to  our  Andes — and  Niebuhr, 
the  bank  officer  and  historian,  and  Schleiermacher, 
the  theologian  and  translator  of  Plato,  and  Wolf,  the 
enlarger  of  philology  and  editor  of  Homer,  with 
Buttrnan  the  grammarian,  and  Savigny,  the  greatest 
civilian  of  the  age,  and  Fichte  and  Steffens  the  philos 
ophers,  these  and  many  more  less  known  to  you,  but 
not  less  active,  established  the  national  university  in 
the  largest  city  of  Prussia  for  the  avowed  purpose  of 
quickening  and  raising  German  nationality.  All  his 
torians  as  well  as  all  observing  cotemporaries  are  ^Ly 
agreed  that  she  performed  her  part  well.  In  less 
than  seven  years  that  maimed  kingdom  rose  and  be 
came  on  a  sudden  one  of  the  leading  powers  in  the 
greatest  military  struggle  on  record,  calling  for  un 
heard  of  national  efforts,  and  that  great  system  of 
education,  which  rests  like  a  high  and  long  arch  on 
the  two  buttresses,  the  common  school  and  the  uni 
versity,  served  well  and  proved  efficient  in  the  hour 
of  the  highest  national  need ;  and,  let  me  add,  at  that 


62  ADDKESS 

period  when  the  matrons  carried  even  their  wedding 
rings  to  the  mint,  to  exchange  them  for  iron  ones 
with  the  inscription :  Gold  I  gave  for  Iron,  the  halls  of 
that  noble  university  stood  mnte.  Students,  profess 
ors,  all,  had  gone  to  the  rescue  of  their  country,  and 
Napoleon  honored  them  by  calling  them  in  his  proc 
lamations,  with  assumed  contempt,  the  school-boy  sol 
diers.  They  fought,  as  privates  and  as  officers, 
with  the  intelligence  and  pluck  of  veterans  and  the 
dash  of  patriotic  youth,  and  when  they  had  fought 
or  toiled  as  soldiers  toil,  in  the  day,  many  of  them 
sang  in  the  nightly  bivouac  those  songs,  that  swell 
the  breasts  of  the  Germans  to  this  hour. 

We  are,  indeed,  not  prostrated  like  Prussia  after 
the  French  conquest,  but  we  stand  no  less  in  need  of 
a  broad  national  institution  of  learning  and  teaching. 
Our  government  is  a  federal  union.  We  loyally  ad 
here  to  it  and  turn  our  faces  from  centralization, 
however  brilliant,  for  a  time,  the  lustre  of  its  focus 
may  appear,  however  imposingly  centred  power, 
that  saps  self-government,  may  hide  for  a  day  the 
inherent  weakness  of  military  concentrated  poli 
ties.  But  truths  are  truths.  It  is  a  truth  that  mo 
dern  civilization  stands  in  need  of  entire  countries; 
and  it  is  a  truth  that  every  government,  as  indeed 
every  institution  whatever  is,  by  its  nature,  exposed 
to  the  danger  of  gradually  increased  and,  at  last, 


OF    MB.     LIEBEK.  63 

excessive  action  of  its  vital  principle.  One-sidedness 
is  a  universal  effect  of  man's  state  of  sin.  Confeder 
acies  are  exposed  to  the  danger  of  sej  unction  as  uni 
tary  governments  are  exposed  to  absorbing  central 
power — centrifugal  power  in  the  one  case,  centri 
petal  power  in  the  other.  That  illustrious  predecessor 
of  ours,  from  whom  we  borrowed  our  very  name, 
the  United  States  of  the  Netherlands  ailed  long  with 
the  paralyzing  poison  of  sej  unction  in  her  limbs, 
and  was  brought  to  an  early  grave  by  it,  after  having 
added  to  the  stock  of  humanity  the  worshipful  names 
of  William  of  Orange,  and  de  Witt,  Grotius,  de 
Ruyter  and  William  the  Third.*  There  is  no  German 


*  Every  historian  knows  that  William  of  Orange,  the  founder  of  the 
Netherlands'  republic,  had  much  at  heart  to  induce  the  cities  of  the  new 
union  to  admit  representatives  of  the  country;  but  the  "sovereign""  cities 
would  allow  no  representatives  to  the  farmers  and  landowners,  unless  noble 
men,  who,  nevertheless,  were  taking  their  full  share  in  the  longest  and  most 
sanguinary  struggle  for  independence  and  liberty  ;  but  the  following  detail, 
probably,  is  not  known  to  many.  The  estates  of  Holland  and  West  Fries- 
land  were  displeased  with  the  public  prayers  for  the  Prince  of  Orange,  which 
some  high-Calvanistic  ministers  were  gradually  introducing,  in  the  latter  half 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  in  1663,  a  decree  was  issued  ordaining  to 
pray  first  of  all  "  for  their  noble  high  mightinesses,  the  estates  of  Holland  and 
West  Friesland,  as  the  true  sovereign,  and  only  sovereign  power  after  God, 
in  this  province ;  next,  for  the  estates  of  the  other  provinces,  their  allies,  and 
for  all  the  deputies  in  the  assembly  of  the  States  General,  and  of  the  Council 
of  State." 

"  Separatismus,"  as  German  historians  have  called  the  tendency  of  the 
German  princes  to  make  themselves  as  independent  of  the  empire  as  possible, 
until  their  treason  against  the  country  reached  "  sovereignty,"  has  made  the 
political  history  of  Germany  resemble  the  river  Rhine,  whose  glorious  water 
runs  out  in  a  number  of  shallow  and  muddy  streamlets,  having  lost  its  im 
perial  identity  long  before  reaching  the  broad  ocean. 


64  ADDEESS 

among  you  that  does  not  sadly  remember  that  his 
country,  too,  furnishes  us  with  bitter  commentaries 
on  this  truth  ;  and  we  are  not  exempt  from  the  dan 
gers  common  to  mortals.  Yet  as  was  indicated  just 
now,  the  patria  of  us,  moderns,  ought  to  consist  in  a 
wide  land  covered  by  a  nation,  and  not  in  a  city  or 
a  little  colony.  Mankind  have  outgrown  the  ancient 
city-state.  Countries  are  the  orchards  and  the  broad 
acres  where  modern  civilization  gathers  her  grain 
and  nutritious  fruits.  The  narrow  garden-beds  of 
antiquity  suffice  for  our  widened  humanity,  no  more 

than  the  short  existence  of  ancient  states.     Moderns 

i 

stand  in  need  of  nations  and  of  national  longevity, 
for  their  literatures  and  law,  their  industry,  liberty, 
and  patriotism ;  we  want  countries  to  work  and 
write  and  glow  for,  to  live  and  to  die  for.  The 
sphere  of  humanity  has  steadily  widened,  and  nations 
alone  can  now-a-days  acquire  the  membership  of  that 
great  commonwealth  of  our  race  which  extends  over 
Europe  and  America.  Has  it  ever  been  sufficiently 
impressed  on  our  minds  how  slender  the  threads  are 
that  unite  us  in  a  mere  political  system  of  states,  if 
we  are  not  tied  together  by  the  far  stronger  cords  of 
those  feelings  which  arise  from  the  consciousness  of 
having  a  country  to  cling  to  and  to  pray  for,  and 
unimpeded  land  and  water  roads  to  move  on  ? 

Should  we,  then,  not  avail   ourselves  of  so  well 


OF     ME,     LIEBER.  65 

proved  a  cultural  means  of  fostering  and  promoting 
a  generous  nationality,  as  a  comprehensive  university 
is  known  to  be?  Shall  we  never  have  this  noble 
pledge  of  our  nationality  ?  All  Athens,  the  choicest 
city-state  of  antiquity,  may  well  be  said  to  have  been 
one  great  university,  where  masters  daily  met  with 
masters,  and  shall  we  not  have  even  one  for  our  whole 
empire,  which  does  not  extend  from  bay  to  bay  like 
little  Attica,  but  from  sea  to  sea,  and  is  destined  one 
day  to  link  ancient  Europe  to  still  older  Asia,  and 
thus  to  help  completing  the  zone  of  civilization  around 
the  globe  ?  All  that  has  been  said  of  countries,  and 
nations  and  a  national  university  would  retain  its  full 
force  even  if  the  threatened  cleaving  of  this  broad 
land  should  come  upon  us.  But  let  me  not  enter  on 
that  topic  of  lowering  political  reality  however 
near  to  every  citizen's  heart,  when  I  am  bidden  by 
you  to  discourse  on  political  philosophy,  and  it  is 
meet  for  me  not  to  leave  the  sphere  of  inaugural  gen 
eralities. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  ; 

This  is  the  first  time  I  am  honored  with  address 
ing  a  New  York  audience,  and  even  if  I  could  wholly 
dismiss  from  my  mind  the  words  of  the  Greek,  so 
impressive  in  their  simplicity :  It  is  difficult  to  speak 
to  those  with  whom  we  have  not  lived — even  then  I 


66  ADDEESS 

could  not  address  you  without  some  misgiving.  The 
topics  on  which  I  must  discourse,  may  not  be  attract 
ive  to  some  of  you,  and  they  cover  so  extensive  a 
ground,  that  I  fear  my  speech  may  resemble  the 
enumeration  of  the  mile-stones  that  mark  the  way, 
rather  than  the  description  of  a  piece  of  road  through 
cultivated  plains  or  over  haughty  alps.  I,  therefore, 
beg  for  your  indulgence,  in  all  the  candor  in  which 
this  favor  can  be  asked  for  at  your  hands. 

It  is  an  error,  as  common  in  this  country  as  it  is 
great,  that  every  branch  of  knowledge,  if  recognized 
as  important  or  useful,  is  for  that  reason  considered  a 
necessary  or  desirable  portion  of  the  college  course 
of  studies.  It  is  a  serious  error,  but  I  do  not  believe 
that  it  was  committed  by  the  Trustees  when  they 
established  my  chair. 

College  education  ought  to  be  substantial  and  liberal. 
All  instruction  given  in  a  generous  college  ought  to 
aim  at  storing,  strengthening,  refining  and  awakening 
the  head  and  heart.  It  ought  to  have  for  its  object 
either  direct  information  and  positive  transmission  of 
knowledge,  for  the  purpose  of  applying  it  in  the 
walks  of  practical  life,  or  in  the  later  pursuits  of 
truth  ;  or  it  ought  to  give  the  beginnings  of  knowledge 
and  with  them  to  infuse  the  longing  to  enter  and  tra 
verse  the  fields  which  open  before  the  student  from  the 
hill-top  to  which  the  teacher  has  led  him ;  or  it  ought 


OF    MR.     L1EBEK. 

to  convey  to  him  the  method  and  skill  of  study — the 
scholar's  art  to  which  the  ancient  Vita  Irevis  ars 
longa  applies  as  emphatically  as  to  any  other  art ;  or 
its  tendency  ought  to  be  the  general  cultivation  and 
embellishment  of  the  mind,  and  the  formation  of  a 
strong  and  sterling  character,  Truth  and  Truthfulness 
being  the  inscription  on  the  mansion  of  all  these 
endeavors. 

It  is  readily  understood  that  all  teaching  must  be 
within  the  intellectual  reach  of  the  instructed,  but  it 
is  a  grave  mistake  to  suppose  that  nothing  should  be 
placed  before  the  pupil's  mind,  but  what  he  can  ac 
tually  comprehend  in  all  its  details.  Life  does  not 
instruct  us  in  this  manner  ;  the  bible  does  not  teach 
us  thus.  There  is  a  suggestive  instruction,  which 
though  occasional,  is  nevertheless  indispensable.  It 
consists  in  thoughts  and  topics  of  an  evocative  char 
acter, 'giving  a  foretaste  and  imparting  hope.  The 
power  of  stimulation  is  not  restricted,  for  weal  or 
woe,  to  definition.  Suggestive  and  anticipating 
thoughts,  wisely  allowed  to  fall  on  the  learner's  mind, 
are  like  freighted  sayings  of  the  poet,  instinctively  re 
cognized  as  pregnant  words,  although  at  the  moment 
we  cannot  grasp  their  entire  meaning.  They  fill  us 
with  affectionate  suspicion.  Napoleon  was  a  master 
of  the  rhetoric  of  the  camp,  as  Mackintosh  calls  it 
speaking  of  Elizabeth  at  Tilbury.  His  proclamations 


68  ADDKESS 

to  the  army  are  described  to  have  had  an  elec 
trifying  effect  on  every  soul  in  the  camp,  from  the 
calculating  engineer  to  the  smallest  drummer  boy ; 
yet  it  is  observed  that  every  one  of  these  proclama 
tions,  intended  for  immediate  and  direct  effect,  con 
tains  portions  that  cannot  have  been  understood  by 
his  hosts.  Are  we  then  to  suppose  that  these  were 
idle  effusions,  escaped  from  his  proud  heart  rather 
than  dictated  for  a  conscious  purpose  ?  He  that  held 
his  army  in  his  hand  as  the  ancient  Caesars  hold  Vic 
toria  in  their  palm,  always  knew  distinctly  what  he 
was  about  when  his  soldiers  occupied  his  mind,  and 
those  portions  which  transcended  the  common  intel 
lect  of  the  camp  had,  nevertheless,  the  inspiriting 
effect  of  foreshadowed  glory,  which  the  cold  com 
mander  wanted  to  produce  for  the  next  day's  strug 
gle.  The  same  laws  operate  in  all  spheres,  according 
to  different  standards,  and  it  is  thus  that  quietening 
instruction  ought  not  to  be  deprived  of  foretokening 
rays. 

Those  branches  which  I  teach  are  important,  it 
seems,  in  all  these  respects  and  for  every  one,  what 
ever  his  pursuits  in  practical  life  may  be.  To  me 
have  been  assigned  the  sciences  which  treat  of  man 
in  his  social  relations,  of  humanity  in  all  its  phases 
in  society.  Society,  as  I  use  the  term  here,  does  not 
mean  a  certain  number  of  living  individuals  bound 


OF    MR.     LIEBER.  69 

together  by  the  bonds  of  common  laws,  interests, 
sympathies  and  organization,  but  it  means  these  and 
the  successive  generations  with  which  they  are  inter 
linked,  which  have  belonged  to  the  same  egasi'Qty  and  /I 
whose  traditions  the  living  have  received.  Society  is 
a  continuity.  Society  is  like  a  river.  It  is  easy  to  say 
where  the  Rhine  is,  but  can  you  say  what  it  is  at  any 
given  moment  ?  While  you  pronounce  the  word 
Mississippi,  volumes  of  its  waters  have  rolled  into 
the  everlasting  sea,  and  new  volumes  have  rushed 
into  it  from  the  northernmost  lake  Itaska,  and 
all  its 'vying  tributaries.  Yet  it  remains  the  Missis 
sippi.  While  you  pronounce  the  word  America, 
some  of  your  fellow-beings  breathe  their  last,  and  new 
ones  are  born  into  your  society.  It  remains  your 
society.  How  else  could  I,  in  justice,  be  called  upon 
to  obey  laws,  made  by  lawgivers  before  I  was  born 
and  who  therefore  could  not,  by  any  theory  or  con 
struction,  represent  me  individually  ?  I  was  not,  and 
therefore  had  neither  rights  nor  obligations.  But  my 
society  existed  and  it  exists  still,  and  those  are,  until 
repealed,  the  laws  of  my  society.  Society  is  not  ar 
bitrarily  made  up  by  men,  but  man  is  born  into 
society ;  and  that  science  which  treats  of  men  in  their 
social  relations  in  the  past,  and  of  that  which  has 
successively  affected  their  society,  for  weal  or  woe,  is 
history.  Schloezer,  one  of  the  first  who  gave  curren- 


70  ADDRESS 

cy  to  the  word  Statistik,  of  which  we  have  formed 
Statistics,  with  a  somewhat  narrower  meaning,  has 
well  said,  History  is  continuous  Statistik;  Statistik, 
Histosy-aM-ested  at  any  given  period. 

The  variety  of  interests  and  facts  and  deeds  which 
history  deals  with,  and  the  dignity  which  surrounds 
this  science,  for  it  is  the  dignity  of  humanity  itself 
in  all  its  aspirations  and  its  sufferings,  give  to  this 
branch  of  knowledge  a  peculiarly  cultivating  and  en 
larging  character  for  the  mind  of  the  young. 

He  that  made  man  decreed  him  to  be  a  social 
being,  that  should  depend  upon  society  for  the  devel 
opment  of  his  purest  feelings,  highest  thoughts  and 
even  of  his  very  individuality,  as  well  as  for  his  ad 
vancement,  safety  and  sustenance ;  and  for  this  purpose 
He  did  not  only  ordain,  as  an  elementary  principle, 
that  the  dependence  of  the  young  of  man,  and  they 
alone  of  all  mammals,  on  the  protection  of  the  pa 
rents,  should  outlast  by  many  years  the  period  of 
lactation ;  and  endowed  him  with  a  love  and  instinct 
of  association ;  and  did  not  only  make  the  principle 
of  mutual  dependence  an  all-pervading  one,  acting 
with  greater  intensity  as  men  advance ;  but  He  also 
implanted  in  the  breast  of  every  human  being  a  yearn 
ing  to  know  what  has  happened  to  those  that  have 
passed  before  him,  and  to  let  those  that  will  come 
after  him  know  what  has  befallen  him  and  what  he 


OF     MK.    LIEBER.  71 

may  have  achieved — the  love  of  chronicling  and 
reading  chronicles.  Man  instinctively  shows  the 
contintiity  of  society  long  before  the  philosopher 
enounces  it.  The  very  savage  honors  the  old  men 
that  can  tell  of  their  fathers  and  of  their  fathers' 
fathers,  and  tries  his  hand  at  record  in  the  cairn  that 
is  to  tell  a  story  to  his  children's  children.  Why  do 
the  lonely  Icelanders  pass  their  uninterrupted  night 
of  whole  months  in  copying  Norman  chronicles  ? 

As  societies  rise  the  desire  to  know  the  past  as  a 
continuous  whole  becomes  more  distinct  and  the 
uses  of  this  knowledge  become  clearer;  the  desire 
becomes  careful  inquiry  and  collection ;  mere  Asiatic 
reception  of  what  is  given  changes  into  Greek  criti 
cism;  the  love  to  inform  future  generations  becomes 
a  skill  to  represent,  until  history,  with  the  zeal  of  re 
search,  the  penetration  of  analysis,  the  art  and  com 
prehension  of  representing,  and  the  probity  of  truth, 
is  seen  as  the  stateliest  of  all  the  muses. 

So  soon  as  man  leaves  the  immediate  interests  of 
the  day  and  contemplates  the  past,  or  plans  for  future 
generations  and  feels  a  common  affection  with  them, 
he  rises  to  an  ennobling  elevation.  There  is  no  more 
nutritious  pabulum  to  rear  strong  characters  upon 
than  History,  and  all  men  of  action  have  loved  it. 
The  great  Chatham  habitually  repaired  to  Plutarch 
in  his  spare  half-hours — he  had  not  many — and  with 


72  ADDRESS 

his  own  hands  he  prescribed  Thucydides  as  one  of 
the  best  books  for  his  son  to  read  and  re-read  in  his 
early  youth.  The  biographer  of  Pitt  tells  us  that 
while  at  Cambridge  he  was  in  the  habit  of  copying 
long  passages  from  Thucydides  the  better  to  impress 
them  on  his  mind,  as  Demosthenes  before  him  had 
copied  the  whole.  Thucydides  is  nourishing  food. 
When  we  read  one  of  our  best  historical  books,  when 
we  allow  a  Motley  to  lead  us  through  the  struggle  of 
the  Netherlands,  do  we  not  feel  in  a  frame  of  mind 
similar  to  that  which  the  traveler  remembers  when  he 
left  the  noisy  streets  of  Rome,  with  the  creaking  wine- 
carts  and  the  screaming  street  traffic,  and  enters  the 
Vatican,  where  the  silent,  long  array  of  lasting  master- 
works  awaits  him  ?  Even  the  contemplation  of  crime 
on  the  stage  of  history  has  its  dignity  as  its  contem 
plation  on  the  stage  of  Shakespeare  has.  The  real 
science  and  art  of  history  is  the  child  of  periods  of 
action.  No  puny  time  has  produced  great  historians. 
Historians  grow  in  virile  periods,  and  if  a  Tacitus 
wrote  under  the  corrupt  empire  it  was  Rome  in  her 
manhood  that  yet  lived  in  him  and  made  him  the 
strong  historian  we  honor  in  that  great  name.  His 
very  despondency  is  great  and  he  wrote  his  history 
by  the  light  which  yet  lingered  behind  the  setting  of 
Roman  grandeur. 
.  There  are  reasons  which  make  the  study  of  history 


OF    MR.     LIEBER.  3 

peculiarly  important  in  our  own  day  and  in  our  own 
country.     Not  only  is  our  age  graced  with  a  rare 
array  of  historians  in  Europe  and  in  our  hemisphere — 
I  need  hardly  mention  Mebuhr,  Kanke,  and  Neander, 
and  Guizot,  and  Sismondi,  Hallam,  Macaulay,  and  the 
noble  Grote,  and  Prescott  and  Bancroft — but,  as  it 
always  happens  when  a  science  is  pursued  with  re 
newed  vigor  and  sharpened  interest,  schools   have 
sprung  up  which  in  their  one-sided  eagerness  have 
fallen  into  serious  errors.     There  was  a  time  when 
the  greatest  sagacity  of  the  historian  was  believed  to 
consist  in  deriving  events  of  historic  magnitude  from 
insignificant  causes  or  accidents,  and  when  the  lovers 
of  progress  believed  that  mankind  must  forget  the 
past  and  begin  entirelvriew.     These  errors  produced 
in    turn    their   opposites.      The   so-called   historical 
school  sprung  up,  which  seems  to  believe  that  no 
thing  can  be  right  but  what  has  been,  and  that  all  that 
has  been  is  therefore  right,  sacrificing  right  and  jus 
tice,  freedom,  truth  and  wisdom  at  the  shrine  of  Pre 
cedent  and  at  the  altar  of  Fact.     They  forget  that 
in  truth  theirs  is  the  most  revolutionary  theory  while 
they  consider  themselves  the  conservatives ;  for  what 
is  new  to-day  will  be  fact  to-morrow  and,  according 
to  them,  will  thus  have  established  its  historical  right. 
Another  school  has  come  into  existence,  spread  at 
this  time  more  widely  than  the  other,  and  consider- 


74  ADDRESS 

ing  itself  the  philosophical  school  by  way  of  excel 
lence.  I  mean  those  historians  who  seek  the  highest 
work  of  history  in  finding  out  a  predetermined  type 
of  social  development  in  each  state  and  nation  and 
in  every  race,  reducing  men  to  instinctive  and  invol 
untary  beings  and  society  to  nothing  higher  than  a 
bee-hive.  They  confound  nature  and  her  unchange 
able  types  and  unalterable  periodicity,  with  the 
progress  and  development  as  well  as  relapses  of 
associated  free  agents.  In  their  eyes  every  series  of 
events  and  every  succession  of  facts  becomes  a  neces 
sity  and  a  representative  of  national  predestination. 
Almost  everything  is  considered  a  symbol  of  the  mys 
terious  current  of  nationality,  and  all  .of  us  have  late 
ly  read  how  the  palaces  of  a  great  capital  were 
conveniently  proclaimed  from  an  imperial  throne  to 
be  the  self-symbolizations  of  a  nation  instinctively 
intent  on  centralized  unity.  It  is  the  school  peculiar 
ly  in  favor  with  modern,  brilliant  and  not  always  un 
enlightened  absolutism;  for,  it  strikes  individuality 
from  the  list  of  our  attributes,  and  individuality  in 
commodes  absolutism.  It  is  the  school  which  strips 
society  of  its  moral  and  therefore  responsible  charac 
ter,  and  has  led  with  us  to  the  doctrine  of  manifest  des 
tiny,  as  if  any  destiny  of  man  could  be  more  manifest 
than  that  of  doing  right,  above  all  things,  and  of  being 
man  indeed.  The  error  into  which  this  school  has 


OF    ME.     LIEBEE.  75 

relapsed  is  not  dissimilar  to  that  which  prevailed 
regarding  ethics  with  the  Greeks  before  they  had 
clearly  separated,  in  their  minds,  the  laws  of  nature 
with  their  unbending  necessity  from  the  moral  laws, 
and  which  is  portrayed  with  fearful  earnestness  in 
the  legend  of  (Edipus. 

Closely  akin  in  historic  ethics  to  the  theory  of  his 
torical  necessity  is  the  base  theory  of  success.  We  are 
told,  and  unfortunately  by  very  many  that  pretend 
to  take  philosophic  views,  that  success  proves  justice; 
that  the  unsuccessful  cause  proves  by  the  want  of 
success  its  want  of  right.  It  is  a  convenient  theory 
for  the  tyrant ;  but  it  is  forgotten  that  if  mere  jpau- 
walflincc  of  power  over  antagonists  constitutes  success, 
and  success  proves  the  right  of  the  successful,  the 
robber  or  the  deceiver  who  can  not  be 


reached  a*e»  justified.     We  are  not  told  what  length 

p^ 
of  time  constitutes  success.      If  there  had  been  a 

Moniteur  de  Rome  in  the  second  century  of  our  era, 
Christianity  must  have  been  represented  as  a  very 
unsuccessful  movement.  Nor  are  we  allowed  to  for 
get  the  strong  lesson  of  history  that  no  great  idea, 
no  institution  of  any  magnitude  has  ever  prevailed 
except  after  long  struggles  and  unsuccessful  attempts.* 
The  conscientious  teacher  must  guard  the  young 

*  Connected  with  this  error,  again,  is  the  theory  of  Representative  Men, 
which  seems  to  be  in  great  favor  at  the  present  time,  and  is  carried  to  a  re- 


ADDRESS 

against  the  blandishments  of  these  schools  ;  he  must 
cultivate  in  the  young  the  delight  of  discovering  the 
genesis  of  things,  which  for  great  purposes  was  infused 
into  our  souls ;  but  he  must  show  with  lasting  effect, 
that  growth  in  history  however  well  traced,  however 

raarkable  degree  of  extravagance  even  by  men  who  have  otherwise  acquired 
deserved  distinction.  One  of  the  most  prominent  philosophers  of  France 
has  gone  so  far  as  to  say  that  the  leading  military  genius  of  an  age  is  its 
highest  representative — a  position  wholly  at  variance  with  history  and  utterly 
untenable  by  argument.  The  philosopher  Hegel  had  said  nearly  the  same  thing 
before  him.  It  would  be  absurd  to  say  that  Hannibal  was  the  representative  of 
his  age,  yet  he  was  pre-eminently  its  military  genius.  Those  are  the  greatest  of 
men  that  are  in  advance  of  their  fellow-beings  and  raise  them  up  to  their  own 
height.  Whom  did  Charlemagne  represent?  The  question  whom  and  what 
did  those  men  represent  that  have  been  called  representative  men,  and  at 
what  time  of  their  lives  were  they  such,  are  questions  which  present  them- 
selm§  at  once  at  the  mention  of  this  term.  An  English  judge  who  once  for 
all  has  settled  by  his  decision  a  point  of  elementary  importance  to  individual 
liberty,  so  that  his  opinion  and  his  decision  now  form  part  and  parcd'of'the 
very  constitution  of  his  country,  is  to  be  considered  far  more  a  representa 
tive  of  the  spirit  of  the  English  people  than  Cromwell  was  when  he  divided 
England  into  military  districts,  and  established  a  government  which  broke 
down  the  moment  he  breathed  his  last.  The  greater  portion  of  those  men 
who  are  called  representative  men  have  reached  their  historical  eminence  by 
measures  consisting  in  a  mixture  of  violence,  compression,  and,  generally,  of 
fraud ;  they  cannot,  therefore,  have  represented  those  against  whom  the  vio 
lence  was  used,  and  little  observation  is  required  to  know  that  organized  force 
or  a  well  organized  hierarchy  can  readily  obtain  a  victory  over  a  vastly 
greater  majority  that  is  not  organized.  The  twenty  or  thirty  organized  men 
at  Sing-Sing,  who  keep  many  hundred  prisoners,  insulated  by  silence,  in  sub 
mission,  cannot  be  called  the  representative  men  of  the  penitentiary.  Nor 
must  it  be  forgotten  that  the  Bad  and  the  Criminal  can  be  concentrated  in 
a  leader  and  represented  by  him,  just  as  well  as  that  which  is  good  and  sub 
stantial.  Such  as  the  idea  of  representative  men  is  now  floating  in  the  minds 
of  men,  it  is  the  result,  in  a  great  measure,  of  that  unphilosophical  coarseness 
which  places  the  Palpable,  the  Vast  and  the  Rapid  above  the  silent  and  sub 
stantial  genesis  of  things  and  ideas,  thus  leading  to  the  fatal  error  of  regard 
ing  destruction  more  than  growth.  Destruction  is  rapid  and  violent ;  growth 
is  slow  and  silent.  The  naturalists  have  divested  themselves  of  this  barba- 


OF    ME.    LIEBER. 

delightful  in  tracing,  however  instructive  and  how 
ever  enriching  our  associations,  is  not  on  that  account 
alone  a  genesis  with  its  own  internal  moral  necessity, 
and  does  not  on  that  account  alone  have  a  prescrib 
ing  power  for  a  future  line  of  action.  I  have  dwelt 
upon  this  subject  somewhat  at  length,  but  those  will 
pardon  me  who  know  to  what  almost  inconceivable 
degree  these  errors  are  at  present  carried  even  by 
some  men  otherwise  not  destitute  of  a  comprehensive 
grasp  of  mind. 

If  what  I  have  said  of  the  nourishing  character 
inherent  in  the  study  of  history  is  true ;  if  history 
favors  the  growth  of  strong  men  and  is  cherished 
in  turn  by  them,  and  grows  upon  their  affection 
as  extended  experience  and  slowly  advancing  years 
make  many  objects  of  interest  drop  like  leaves,  one  by 
one ;  if  history  shows  us  the  great  connection  of 
things,  that  there  is  nothing  stable  but  the  Progress 
ive,  and  that  there  is  Alfred  and  Socrates,  Marathon 
and  Tours,  or,  if  it  be  not  quaint  to  express  it  thus, 
that  there  is  the  microcosm  of  the  whole  past  in  each 
of  us  ;  and  if  history  familiarizes  the  mind  with  the 
idea  that  it  is  a  jury  whose  verdict  is  not  rendered  ac 
cording  to  the  special  pleadings  of  party  dogmas,  and 
a  logic  ^iolentiy  wrenched  from  truth  and  right — 
then  it  is  obvious  that  in  a  moral,  practical  and  intel 
lectual  point  of  view  it  is  the  very  science  for  nascent 


T8  ADDKESS 

citizens  of  a  republic.  There  are  not  a  few  among 
us,  who  are  dazzled  by  the  despotism  of  a  Csesar,  ap 
pearing  brilliant  at  least  at  a  distance — did  not  even 
Plato  set,  once,  his  hopes  on  Dionysius  ? — or  are  mis 
led  by  the  plausible  simplicity  of  democratic  abso 
lutism,  that  despotism  which  believes  liberty  simply 
to  consist  in  the  irresponsible  power  of  a  larger  num 
ber  over  a  smaller,  for  no  other  reason,  it  seems,  than 
that  ten  is  more  than  nine.  All  absolutism,  whether 
monarchical  or  democratic,  is  in  principle  the  same, 
and  the  latter  always  leads  by  short  transitions  to  the 
other.  We  may  go  farther  ;  in  all  absolutism  there  is 
a  strong  element  of  communism.  The  theory  of  pro 
perty  which  Louis  the  Fourteenth  put  forth  was  es 
sentially  communistic.  There  is  no  other  civil  liberty 
than  institutional  liberty,  all  else  is  but  passing  sem 
blance  and  simulation.  It  is  one  of  our  highest  duties, 
therefore,  to  foster  in  the  young  an  institutional  spirit, 
and  an  earnest  study  of  history  shows  the  inestimable 
value  of  institutions.  We  need  not  fear  in  our  eager 
age  and  country  that  we  may  be  led  to  an  idolatry  of 
the  past — history  carries  sufficient  preventives  within 
itself — or  to  a  worship  of  institutions  simply  because 
they  are  institutions.  Institutions  like  the  sons  of 
men  themselves  may  be  wicked  or  good*;,  but  it  is  true 
that  ideas  and  feelings,  however  great  or  pure,  retain 
a  passing  and  meteoric  character  so  long  as  they  are 


OF    ME.     LIEBEK.  79 

not  embodied  in  vital  institutions,  and  that  rights  and 
privileges  are  but  slender  reeds  so  long  as  they  are 
not  protected  and  kept  alive  by  sound  and  tenacious 
institutions ;  and  it  is  equally  true  that  an  institu 
tional  spirit  is  fostered  and  invigorated  by  a  manly 
study  of  society  in  the  days  that  are  gone. 

A  wise  study  of  the  past  teaches  us  social  analysis, 
and  to  separate  the  permanent  and  essential  from  the 
accidental  and  superficial,  so  that  it  becomes  one  of 
the  keys  by  which  we  learn  to  understand  better  the 
present.  History,  indeed,  is  an  admirable  training  in 
the  great  duty  of  attention  and  the  art  of  observa 
tion,  as  in  turn  an  earnest  observation  of  the  present 
is  an  indispensable  aid  to  the  historian.  A  practical 
life  is  a  key  with  which  we  unlock  the  vaults  contain 
ing  the  riches  of  the  past.  Many  of  the  greatest  his 
torians  in  antiquity  and  modern  times  have  been 
statesmen;  and  Niebuhr  said  that  with  his  learn 
ing,  and  it  was  prodigious,  he  could  not  have  un 
derstood  Roman  history,  had  he  not  been  for  many 
years  a  practical  officer  in  the  financial  and  other  de 
partments  of  the  administration,  while  we  all  remem 
ber  Gibbon's  statement  of  himself,  that  the  cap 
tain  of  the  Hampshire  militia  was  of  service  to  the 
historian  of  Rome.  This  is  the  reason  why  free  na 
tions  produce  practical,  penetrating  and  unravelling 
historians,  for  in  them  every  observing  citizen  par- 


80  ADDRESS 

takes,  in  a  manner,  of  statesmanship.  Free  countries 
furnish  us  with  daily  lessons  in  the  anatomy  of  states 
and  society  ;  they  make  us  comprehend  the  reality  of 
history.  But  we  have  dwelled  sufficiently  long  on 
this  branch. 

As  Helicon,  where  Clio  dwelt,  looked  down  in  all 
its  grandeur  on  the  busy  gulf  and  on  the  chaffering 
traffic  of  Corinth,  so  let  us  leave  the  summit  and 
walk  down  to  Crissa,  and  cross  the  isthmus  and  enter 
the  noisy  mart  where  the  productions  of  men  are 
exchanged.  Sudden  as  the  change  may  be,  it  only 
symbolizes  reality  and  human  life.  What  else  is  the 
main  portion  of  history  but  a  true  and  wise  account 
of  the  high  events  and  ruling  facts  which  have  re 
sulted  from  the  combined  action  of  the  elements  of 
human  life  ?  Who  does  not  know  that  national  life 
consists  in  the  gathered  sheaves  of  the  thousand  ac 
tivities  of  men,  and  that  production  and  exchange 
are  at  all  times  among  the  elements  of  these  activi 
ties? 

Man  is  always  an  exchanging  being.  Exchange  is 
one  of  those  characteristics  without  which  we  never 
find  man,  though  they  may  be  observable  only  in 
their  lowest  incipiency,  and  with  which  we  never  find 
the  animal,  though  its  sagacity  may  have  reached  the 
highest  point.  As,  from  the  hideous  tattooing  of  the 
savage  to  our  dainty  adornment  of  the  sea-cleaving 


OF   ME.    LIEBER.  81 

prow  or  the  creations  of  a  Crawford,  men  always  mani 
fest  that  there  is  the  affection  of  the  beautiful  in  them 
— that  they  are  sesthetical  beings  ;  or  as  they  always 
show  that  they  are  religious  beings,  whether  they 
prostrate  themselves  before  a  fetish  or  bend  their 
knee  before  their  true  and  unseen  God,  and  the  animal 
never,  so  we  find  man,  whether  Caffre,  Phoenician  or 
American,  always  a  producing  and  exchanging  being ; 
and  we  observe  that  this,  as  all  other  attributes,  steadi 
ly  increases  in  intensity  with  advancing  civilization. 

There  are  three  laws  on  which  man's  material 
well-being  and,  in  a  very  great  measure,  his  civiliza 
tion  are  founded.  Man  is  placed  on  this  earth  ap 
parently  more  destitute  and  helpless  than  any  other 
animal.  Man  is  no  finding  animal — he  must  produce. 
He  must  produce  his  food,  his  raiment,  his  shelter 
and  his  comfort.  He  must  produce  his  arrow  and  his 
trap,  his  canoe  and  his  field,  his  road  and  his  lamp. 

Men  are  so  constituted  that  they  have  far  more 
wants,  and  can  enjoy  the  satisfying  of  them  more  in 
tensely,  than  other  animals ;  and  while  these  many 
wants  are  of  a  peculiar  uniformity  among  all  men,  the 
fitness  of  the  earth  to  provide  for  them  is  greatly  di 
versified  and  locally  restricted,  so  that  men  must  pro 
duce,  each  more  than  he  wants  for  himself,  and 
exchange  their  products.  All  human  palates  are 
pleasantly  affected  by  saccharine  salts,  so  much  so  that 


82  ADDRESS 

the  word  sweet  has  been  carried  over,  in  all  languages, 
into  different  and  higher  spheres,  where  it  has  ceased 
to  be  a  trope  and  now  designates  the  dearest  and  even 
the  holiest  affections.  All  men  understand  what  is 
meant  by  sweet  music  and  sweet  wife,  because  the  ma 
terial  pleasure  whence  the  term  is  derived  is  universal. 
All  men  of  all  ages  relish  sugar,  but  those  regions 
which  produce  it  are  readily  numbered.  This  applies 
to  the  far  greater  part  of  all  materials  in  constant  de 
mand  among  men,  and  it  applies  to  the  narrowest 
circles  as  to  the  widest.  The  inhabitant  of  the  popu 
lous  city  does  not  cease  to  relish  and  stand  in  need  of 
farinaceous  substances  though  his  crowded  streets  can 
not  produce  grain,  and  the  farmer  who  provides  him 
with  grain  does  not  cease  to  stand  in  need  of  iron  or 
oil  which  the  town  may  procure  for  him  from  a  dis 
tance.  With  what  remarkable  avidity  the  tribes  of 
Negroland,  that  had  never  been  touched  even  by  the 
last  points  of  the  creeping  fibres  of  civilization,  long 
ed  for  the  articles  lately  carried  thither  by  Barth  and 
his  companions  !  The  brute  animal  has  no  dormant 
desires  of  this  kind,  and  finds  around  itself  what  it 
stands  in  need  of.  This  apparent  cruelty,  although  a 
real  blessing  to  man,  deserves  to  be  made  a  prominent 
topic  in  natural  theology. 

Lastly,  the  wants  of  men — I  speak  of  their  material 
and  cultural  wants,  the  latter  of  which  are  as  urgent 


OF    ME.    LIEBEK.  83 

and  fully  as  legitimate  as  the  former — infinitely  in 
crease  and  are  by  Providence  decreed  to  increase 
with  advancing  civilization ;  so  that  4r»  progress  ne- 
cessitates  intenser  production  and  quickened  exchange. 
The  branch  which  treats  of  the  necessity,  nature,  and 
effects,  the  promotion  and  the  hindrances  of  produc 
tion,  whether  it  be  based  almost  exclusively  on  appro 
priation,  as  the  fishery ;  or  on  coercing  nature  to  fur 
nish  us  with  better  and  more  abundant  fruit  than  she  is 
willing  spontaneously  to  yield,  as  agriculture ;  or  in 
fashioning,  separating  and  combining  substances  which 
other  branches  of  industry  obtain  and  collect,  as 
manufacture ;  or  fm  carrying  the  products  from  the 
spot  of  production  to  the  place  of  consumption  ;  and 
the  character  which  all  these  products  acquire  by 
exchange,  as  values,  with  the  labor  and  services  for 
which  again  products  are  given  in  exchange,  this  di 
vision  of  knowledge  is  called  political  economy — 
an  unfit  name ;  but  it  is  the  name,  and  we  use  it. 
Political  economy,  like  every  other  of  the  new  sci 
ences,  was  obliged  to  fight  its  way  to  a  fair  acknowl 
edgment,  against  all  manners  of  prejudices.  The  in 
troductory  lecture  which  archbishop  Whately  deliv 
ered  some  thirty  years  ago,  when  he  commenced  his 
course  on  political  economy  in  the  university  of  Ox 
ford,  consists  almost  wholly  of  a  defense  of  his  sci 
ence  and  an  encounter  with  the  objections  then  made 


84  ADDRESS 

to  it  on  religious,  moral,  and  almost  on  every  ground 
that  could  be  made  by  ingenuity,  or  was  suggested  by 
the  misconception  of  its  aims.  Political  economy  fared, 
in  this  respect,  like  vaccination,  like  the  taking  of  a 
nation's  census,  like  the  discontinuance  of  witch-trials. 
The  economist  stands  now  on  clearer  ground. 
Opponents  have  acknowledged  their  errors,  and  the 
economists  themselves  fall  no  longer  into  the  faults  of 
the  utilitarian.  The  economist  indeed  sees  that  the 
material  interests  of  men  are  of  the  greatest  import 
ance,  and  that  modern  civilization,  in  all  its  aspects, 
requires  an  immense  amount  of  wealth,  and  conse 
quently  increasing  exertion  and  production,  but  he 
acknowledges  that  "  what  men  can  do  the  least  with 
out  is  not  their  highest  need."*  He  knows  that  we 
are  bid  to  pray  for  our  daily  bread,  but  not  for 
bread  alone,  and  I  am  glad  that  those  who  bade 
me  teach  Political  Economy,  assigned  to  me  also 
Political  Philosophy  and  History.  They  teach 
that  the  periods  of  national  dignity  and  highest 
endeavors  have  sometimes  been  periods  of  want 
and  poverty.  They  teach  abundantly  that  riches  and 
enfeebling  comforts,  that  the  flow  of  wine  or  costly 
tapestry,  do  not  lead  to  the  development  of  humanity, 
nor  are  its  tokens  ;  that  no  barbarism  is  coarser  than 

*  Professor  Lushington  in  his  Inaugural  Lecture,  in  Glasgow,  quoted  in  Mo- 
rell's  Hist,  and  Grit.  View  of  Specul.  Phil.     London,  1846. 


OF     MR.     LIEBER.  85 

the  substitution  of  gross  expensiveness  for  what  is 
beautiful  and  graceful ;  that  it  is  rnanly  character, 
and  womanly  soulfulness,  not  gilded  upholstery  or 
fretful  fashion — that  it  is  the  love  of  truth  and  justice, 
directness  and  tenacity  of  purpose,  a  love  of  right,  of 
fairness  and  freedom,  a  self-sacrificing  public  spirit 
and  religious  sincerity,  that  lead  nations  to  noble 
places  in  history ;  not  surfeiting  feasts  or  conven 
tional  refinement.  The  Babylonians  have  tried  that 
road  before  us. 

But  political  economy,  far  from  teaching  the  hoard 
ing  of  riches,  shows  the  laws  of  accumulation  and 
distribution  of  wealth ;  it  shows  the  important  truth 
that  mankind  at  large  can  become  and  have  become 
wealthier,  and  must  steadily  increase  their  wealth  with 
expanding  culture. 

It  is,  nevertheless,  true  that  here,  in  the  most  active 
market  of  our  whole  hemisphere,  I  have  met,  more 
frequently  than  in  any  other  place,  with  an  objection 
to  political  economy,  on  the  part  of  those  who  claim 
for  themselves  the  name  of  men  of  business.  They 
often  say  that  they  alone  can  know  anything  about 
it,  and  as  often  ask  :  what  is  Political  Economy  good 
for  ?  The  soldier,  though  he  may  have  fought  in  the 
thickest  of  the  fight,  is  not  on  that  account  the  best 
judge  of  the  disposition,  the  aim,  the  movements,  the 
faults  or  the  great  conceptions  of  a  battle,  nor  can 


86  ADDKESS 

we  call  the  infliction  of  a  deep  wound  a  profound 
lesson  in  anatomy. 

What  is  Political  Economy  good  for  ?  It  is  like 
every  other  branch  truthfully  pursued,  good  for  lead 
ing  gradually  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  truth ;  for 
making  men,  in  its  own  sphere,  that  is  the  vast  sphere 
of  exchange,  what  Cicero  calls  mansueti,  and  for 
clearing  more  and  more  away  what  may  be  termed  the 
impeding  and  sometimes  savage  superstitions  of  trade 
and  intercourse ;  it  is,  like  every  other  pursuit  of  po 
litical  science  of  which  it  is  but  a  branch,  good  for 
sending  some  light,  through  the  means  of  those  that 
cultivate  it  as  their  own  science,  to  the  most  distant 
corners,  and  to  those  who  have  perhaps  not  even 
heard  of  its  name. 

Let  me  give  you  two  simple  facts — one  of  com 
manding  and  historic  magnitude ;  the  other  of  appar 
ent  insignificance,  but  typical  of  an  entire  state  of 
things,  incalculably  important. 

Down  to  Adam  Smith,  the  greatest  statesmanship 
had  always  been  sought  for  in  the  depression  of  neigh 
boring  nations.  Even  a  Bacon  considered  it  self-evi 
dent  that  the  enriching  of  one  people  implies  the 
impoverishing  of  another.  This  maxim  runs  through 
all  history,  Asiatic  and  European,  down  to  the  latter 
part  of  the  last  century.  Then  came  a  Scottish  pro 
fessor  who  dared  to  teach,  in  his  dingy  lecture-room 


OF    ME.     LIEBEK.  8 

at  Edinburgh^  contrary  to  the  opinion  of  the  whole 
world,  that  every  man,  even  were  it  but  for  egotistic 
reasons,  is  interested  in  the  prosperity  of  his  neigh 
bors  ;  that  his  wealth,  if  it  be  the  result  of  produc 
tion  and  exchange,  is  not  a  withdrawal  of  money 
from  others,  and  that,  as  with  single  men  so  with  en 
tire  nations — the  more  prosperous  the  one  so  much 
the  better  for  the  other.  And  his  teaching,  like  that 
of  another  professor  before  him — the  immortal  Gro- 
tius — went  forth,  and  rose  above  men  and  nations, 
and  statesmen  and  kings;  it  ruled  their  councils 
and  led  the  history  of  our  race  into  new  channels ; 
it  bade  men  adopt  the  angels'  greeting :  "  Peace  on 
earth  and  good  will  towards  men,"  as  a  maxim  of 
high  statesmanship  and  political  shrewdness.  Thus 
rules  the  mind ;  thus  sways  science.  There  is  now 
no  intercourse  between  civilized  nations  which  is  not 
tinctured  by  Smith  and  Grotius.  And  what  I  am,  what 
you  are,  what  every  man  of  our  race  is  in  the  middle 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  he  owes  it  in  part  to  Adam 
Smith,  as  well  as  to  Grotius,  and  Aristotle,  and 
Shakespeare,  and  every  other  leader  of  humanity. 
Let  us  count  the  years  since  that  Scottish  profess 
or,  with  his  common  name,  Smith,  proclaimed  his 
swaying  truth,  very  simple  when  once  pronounced ; 
very  fearful  as  long  as  unacknowledged ;  a  very 
blessing  when  in  action ;  and  then  let  us  answer, 


88  ADDKESS 

What  has  Political  Economy  done  for  man?  We  ha 
bitually  dilate  on  the  effect  of  physical  sciences,  and 
especially  on  their  application  to  the  useful  arts  in 
modern  times.  All  honor  to  this  characteristic  fea 
ture  of  our  age — the  wedlock  of  knowledge  and 
labor ;  but  it  is,  nevertheless,  true  that  none  of  the 
new  sciences  have  so  deeply  affected  the  course  of 
human  events  as  political  economy.  I  am  speaking 
as  an  historian  and  wish  to  assert  facts.  What  I  say 
is  not  meant  as  rhetorical  fringe. 

The  other  fact  alluded  to,  is  one  of  those  historical 
pulsations  which  indicate  to  the  touch  of  the  inquirer, 
the  condition  of  an  entire  living  organism.  When  a 
few  weeks  ago  the  widely  spread  misery  in  the  manu 
facturing  districts  of  England  was  spoken  of  in  the 
British  house  of  lords,  one  that  has  been  at  the  helm,* 
concluded  his  speech  with  an  avowal  that  the  suffer 
ing  laborers  who  could  find  but  half  days7,  nay,  quar 
ter  days'  employment,  with  unreduced  wants  of  their 
families,  nevertheless  had  resorted  to  no  violence,  but 
on  the  contrary  universally  acknowledged  that  they 
knew  full  well,  that  a  factory  can  not  be  kept  work 
ing  unless  the  master  can  work  to  a  profit. 

This  too  is  very  simple,  almost  trivial,  when  stated. 
But  those  who  know  the  chronicles  of  the  medieval 

*  Lord  Derby,  then  in  the  opposition,  and  since  made  premier  again. 


OF    MR.     LIEBER.  89 

cities,  and  of  modern  times  down  to  a  period  which 
most  of  us  recollect,  know  also  that  in  all  former  days 
the  distressed  laborer  would  first  of  all  have  resort 
ed  to  a  still  greater  increase  of  distress,  by  violence 
and  destruction.  The  first  feeling  of  uninstructed 
man,  produced  by  suffering,  is  vengeance,  and  that 
vengeance  is  wreaked  on  the  nearest  object  or  person ; 
as  animals  bite,  when  in  pain,  what  is  nearest  within 
reach.  What  has  wrought  this  change  ?  Who,  or 
what  has  restrained  our  own  sorely  distressed  popu 
lation  from  blind  violence,  even  though  unwise  words 
were  officially  addressed  to  them,  when  under  similar 
circumstances  in  the  times  of  free  Florence  or  Cologne 
there  Avould  have  been  a  sanguinary  rising  of  the 
"  wool-weavers,"  if  it  is  not  a  sounder  knowledge  and 
a  correcter  feeling  regarding  the  relations  of  wealth, 
of  capital  and  labor,  which  in  spite  of  the  absurdities 
of  communism  has  penetrated  in  some  degree  all  lay 
ers  of  society  ?  And  which  is  the  source  whence  this 
tempering  knowledge  has  welled  forth,  if  not  Politic 
al  Economy  ? 

True  indeed,  we  are  told  that  economists  do  not 
agree ;  some  are  for  protection,  some  for  free  trade. 
But  are  physicians  agreed  ?  And  is  there  no  science 
and  art  of  medicine  ?  Are  theologians  agreed  ?  Are 
the  cultivators  of  any  branch  of  knowledge  fully 
agreed,  and  are  all  the  beneficial  effects  of  the  sci- 


90  ADDRESS 

ences  debarred  by  this  disagreement  of  their  followers  \ 
But,  however  important  at  certain  periods  the  differ 
ence  between  protectionists  and  free-traders  may  be, 
it  touches,  after  all,  but  a  small  portion  of  the  bulk 
of  truth  taught  by  Political  Economy,  and  I  believe 
that  there  is  a  greater  uniformity  of  opinion,  and  a 
more  essential  agreement  among  the  prominent  scho 
lars  of  this  science,  than  among  those  of  others  ex 
cepting,  as  a  matter  of  course,  the  mathematics.  ... 

If  it  is  now  generally  acknowledged  that  Political 
Economy  ought  not  to  be  omitted  in  a  course  of  su 
perior  education,  all  the  reasons  apply  with  greater 
force  to  that  branch  which  treats  of  the  relations  of 
man  as  a  jural  being — as  citizen,  and  most  especially  so 
in  our  own  country,  where  individual  political  liberty 
is  enjoyed  in  a  degree  in  which  it  has  never  been  en 
joyed  before.  Nowhere  is  political  action  carried  to  a 
greater  intensity,  and  nowhere  is  the  calming  effect 
of  an  earnest  and  scientific  treatment  of  politics  more 
necessary.  In  few  countries  is  man  more  exposed  to 
the  danger  of  being  carried  away  to  the  worship  of 
false  political  gods  and  to  the  idolatry  of  party,  than 
in  our  land,  and  nowhere  is  it  more  necessary  to  show 
to  the  young  the  landmarks  of  political  truth,  and 
the  essential  character  of  civil  liberty — the  grave  and 
binding  duties  that  man  imposes  upon  himself  when 
he  proudly  assumes  self-government.  Nowhere  seem 


OF   MR.    LIEBER.  91 

to  be  so  many  persons  acting  on  the  supposition  that 
we  differ  from  all  other  men,  and  that  the  same 
deviations  will  not  produce  the  same  calamities,  and 
nowhere  does  it  seem  to  be  more  necessary  to  teach 
what  might  well  be  called  political  physiology  and 
political  pathology.  In  no  sphere  of  action  does  it 
seem  to  me  more  necessary  than  in  politics,  to 
teach  and  impress  the  truth  that  "  logic  without  rea 
son  is  a  fearful  thing."  Aristotle  said :  The  fellest  of 
things  is  armed  injustice ;  History  knows  a  feller  thing 
— impassioned  reasoning  without  a  pure  heart  in  him 
that  has  power  in  a  free  country — the  poisoning  of 
the  well  of  political  truth  itself.  Every  youth  ought 
to  enter  the  practical  life  of  the  citizen,  and  every 
citizen  ought  to  remain  through  life,  deeply  impressed 
with  the  conviction  that,  as  Vauvernague  very  nobly 
said,  "  great  thoughts  come  from  the  heart,"  so  great 
politics  come  from  sincere  patriotism,  and  that  with 
out  candid  and  intelligent  public  spirit,  parties  with 
out  which  no  liberty  can  exist,  will  raise  themselves 
into  ends  and  objects  instead  of  remaining  mere 
means.  And  when  the  words  party,  party  consistency 
and  party  honor  are  substituted  for  the  word  Country, 
and,  as  Thucydides  has  it,  when  parties  use,  each  its 
own  language,  and  men  cease  to  understand  one  anoth 
er,  a  country  soon  falls  into  that  state  in  which  a  court 
of  justice  would  find  itself  where  wrangling  plead- 


92  ADDKESS 

ers  should  do  their  work  without  the  tempering, 
guiding  judge — that  state  of  dissolution  which  is  the 
next  step  to  entire  disintegration.  Providence  has 
no  special  laws  for  special  countries,  and  it  is  not  only 
true  what  Talleyrand  said :  Tout  arrive ;  but  every 
thing  happens  over  again.  There  is  no  truth,  short 
of  the  multiplication  table,  that,  at  some  time  or 
other,  is  not  drawn  into  doubt  again,  and  must  be 
re-asserted  and  re-proved. 

One  of  the  means  to  insure  the  difficult  existence 
of  liberty — far  more  difficult  than  that  of  absolutism, 
because  of  an  infinitely  more  delicate  organization — 
is  the  earnest  bringing  up  of  the  young  in  the  path 
of  political  truth  and  justice,  the  necessity  of  which 
is  increased  by  the  reflection  that  in  our  period  of 
large  cities,  man  has  to  solve,  for  the  first  time  in  his 
tory,  the  problem  of  making  a  high  degree  of  general 
and  individual  liberty  compatible  with  populous 
cities.  It  is  one  of  the  highest  problems  of  our  race, 
which  cannot  yet  be  said  to  have  been  solved. 

Political  philosophy  is  a  branch  of  knowledge  that 
ought  not  only  to  be  taught  in  colleges ;  its  funda 
mental  truths  ought  to  be  ingrained  in  the  minds  of 
every  one  that  helps  to  crowd  your  public  schools. 
Is  it  objected  that  political  philosophy  ranges  too 
high  for  boyish  intellects  ?  What  ranges  higher, 
what  is  of  so  spiritual  a  character  as  Christianity? 


OF   ME.    LIEBER.  93 

But  this  lias  not  prevented  the  church,  at  any  period 
of  her  existence,  from  putting  catechisms  of  a  few 
pages  into  the  hands  of  boys  and  girls,  so  that  they 
could  read. 

We  have,  however,  direct  authority  for  what 
has  been  advanced.  The  Romans  in  their  best  pe 
riod  made  every  school-boy  learn  by  heart  the  XII 
Tables,  and  the  XII  Tables  were  the  catechism  of 
Roman  public  and  private  law,  of  their  constitution 
and  of  the  proud  Jus  Quiritium,  that  led  the  Roman 
citizen  to  pronounce  so  confidently,  as  a  vox  et  invo- 
catio,  his  Civis  Romanus  sum  in  the  most  distant  cor 
ners  of  the  land,  and  which  the  captive  apostle  col 
lectedly  asserted  twice  before  the  provincial  officers. 
Cicero  says  that  when  he  was  a  boy,  he  learned  the 
XII  Tables  ut  carmen  necessarium,  like  an  indispens 
able  formulary,  a  political  breviary,  and  deplores 
that  at  the  time  when  he  was  composing  his  treatise 
on  the  laws,  in  which  he  mentions  the  fact,  the 
practice  was  falling  into  disuse.  Rome  was  fast 
drifting  to  Csesarean  absolutism ;  what  use  was  there 
any  longer  for  a  knowledge  of  fundamental  prin 
ciples  ? 

The  Romans  were  not  visionary ;  they  were  no 
theorists ;  no  logical  symmetry  or  love  of  system  ever 
prevented  them  from  being  straightforward  and 
even  stern  practical  men.  They  were  men  of  singu- 


94  ADDRESS 

lar  directness  of  purpose  and  language.  Abstraction 
did  not  suit  them  well.  Those  Romans,  who  loved 
law  and  delighted  in  rearing  institutions  and  building 
high  roads  and  aqueducts  ;  who  could  not  only  con 
quer,  but  could  hold  fast  to,  and  fashion  what  they 
had  conquered,  and  who  strewed  municipalities  over 
their  conquests,  which,  after  centuries,  became  the 
germs  of  a  new  political  civilization;  who  reared  a 
system  of  laws  which  conquered  the  west  and  their 
own  conquerors,  when  the  Roman  sword  had  become 
dull ;  and  who  impressed,  even  through  the  lapse  of 
ages,  a  practical  spirit  on  the  Latin  Church,  which 
visibly  distinguishes  it  from  the  Greek ;  those  Ro 
mans  who  declared  their  own  citizens  with  all  the  Jus 
Romanum  on  them,  when  once  enrolled,  the  slaves 
of  the  general,  and  subjected  them  to  a  merciless 
whip  of  iron  chains  ;  those  Romans  who  could  make 
foreign  kings  assiduous  subjects,  and  foreign  hordes 
fight  well  by  the  side  of  their  own  veterans,  and 
who  could  be  dispassionately  cruel  when  they  thought 
that  cruelty  was  useful ;  those  Romans  who  were 
practical  if  there  ever  was  a  practical  people,  bade 
their  schoolmaster  to  drive  the  XII  Tables  into  the 
stubborn  minds  of  the  little  fellows  who,  in  their 
turn,  were  to  become  the  ruling  citizens  of  the 
ruling  commonwealth,  and  we  know,  from  sculp 
tural  and  written  records,  in  prose  and  metre,  that 


OF   MR.    LIEBER.  95 

the  magistral  means  in  teaching  that  carmen  necessa- 
riuin  was  not  always  applied  to  the  head  alone. 

Let  us  pass  to  another  authority,  though  it  require 
a  historic  bound — to  John  Milton,  whose  name  is 
high  among  the  names  of  men,  as  that  of  Rome  is 
great  among  the  states  of  the  earth.  Milton  who 
wrote  as  clear  and  direct  prose,  as  he  sang  lofty  poet 
ry,  who  was  one  of  the  first  and  best  writers  on  the 
liberty  of  the  press  against  his  own  party,  and  who 
consciously  and  readily  sacrificed  his  very  eyesight 
to  his  country — Milton  says,  in  his  paper  on  Educa 
tion,  dedicated  to  Master  Hartlib,*  that,  after  having 

*  Mr.  Evert  A.  Duyckinck,  of  this  city,  whom,  while  writing  out  this  ad 
dress,  I  had  asked  what  he  knew  of  "  Master  Hartlib,"  obligingly  replied  by  a 
note,  of  which  I  may  be  permitted  to  give  the  following  extract: 

"In  Disraeli's  Curiosities  of  Literature,  Hartlib  is  called  a  Pole.  Thomas 
Wharton,  in  a  note  in  his  edition  of  Milton's  Minor  Poems,  says  Hartlib  was 
a  native  of  Holland,  and  came  into  England  about  the  year  1640.  Hartlib 
himself  tells  us  in  a  letter,  dated  1660,  (reprinted  in  Egerton  Brydges'  Curi- 
osa  Literaria,  III.  54)  that  his  father  was  a  Polish  merchant  who  founded  a 
church  in  Pomania,  and,  when  the  Jesuits  prevailed  in  Poland,  removed  to 
Elbing,  to  which  place  his  (Samuel  Hartlib's)  grandfather  brought  the  English 
company  of  merchants  from  Dantzic.  It  would  appear  that  Hartlib  was  born 
at  Elbing,  for  he  speaks  of  his  father  marrying  a  third  wife  (H.'s  mother)  after 
the  removal  from  Poland  proper,  which  third  wife  would  appear  to  have  been 
an  English  woman.  Hartlib  speaks  of  his  family  being  '  of  a  very  ancient 
extraction  in  the  German  empire,  there  having  been  ten  brethren  of  the  name 
of  Hartlib,  some  of  them  Privy  Councillors  to  the  Emperor.'  Hartlib's  mer 
cantile  life,  I  suppose,  brought  him  to  England.  He  was  a  reformer  in  Church 
matters,  and  became  attached  to  the  Parliament.  '  Hartlib,'  says  Wharton, 
'  took  great  pains  to  frame  a  new  system  of  education,  answerable  to  the  per 
fection  and  purity  of  the  new  commonwealth.'  Milton  addressed  his  Treatise 
on  Education  to  him  about  1650.  In  1662  Hartlib  petitioned  Parliament 
for  relief,  stating  that  he  had  been  thirty  years  and  upwards  serving  the  state 
and  specially  setting  forth  the  '  erecting  a  little  academy  for  the  education 


96  ADDRESS 

taught  sundry  other  branches  in  a  boy's  education, 
"  the  next  removal  must  be  to  the  study  of  politics,  to 
know  the  beginning,  end  and  reasons  of  political  soci 
eties,  that  they  (the  learners)  may  not,  in  a  dangerous 
fit  of  the  commonwealth,  be  such  poor,  shaken,  un 
certain  reeds,  of  such  a  tottering  conscience,  as  many 
of  our  great  counsellors  have  lately  shown  them 
selves,  but  steadfast  pillars  of  the  state."  This  preg 
nant  passage  ought  not  to  have  been  written  in  vain. 

I  could  multiply  authorities  of  antiquity  and 
modern  times,  but  is  not,  Rome  and  Milton,  strong 
enough  ? 

A  complete  course  of  political  philosophy,  to 
which  every  course,  whether  in  a  college  or  a  uni 
versity,  ought  to  approximate,  as  time  and  circum 
stances  permit,  should  wind  its  way  through  the 
large  field  of  political  science  somewhat  in  the  fol 
io  wins:  manner. 


o 


of  the  gentry  of  this  nation,  to  advance  piety,  learning,  morality  and  other  ex 
ercises  of  industry,  not  usual  then  in  common  schools.'  His  other  services 
were  '  correspondence  with  the  chief  of  note  of  foreign  parts,'  '  collecting 
MSS.  in  all  the  parts  of  learning,'  printing  '  the  best  experiments  of  indus 
try  in  Husbandry  and  Manufactures,'  relieving  '  poor,  distressed  scholars, 
both  foreigners  and  of  this  nation.' " 

So  far  the  extract  from  Mr.  Duyckinck's  letter.  Hartlib  was  no  doubt  a  Ger. 
man  by  extraction  and  education,  and  represents  a  type  of  men  peculiar  to  the 
reformation,  and  of  great  importance  in  the  cause  of  advancing  humanity- 
Milton  must  have  felt  great  regard  for  this  foreigner,  but  Milton  had  too  en. 
lightened  a  mind,  and  had  learned  too  much  in  foreign  parts,  ever  to  allow  a 
narrowing  and  provincial  self-complacency  to  become  a  substitute  for  enlarg 
ing  and  unselfish  patriotism. 


OF    ME.     LIEBEE.  97 

We  must  start  from  the  pregnant  fact  that 
each  man  is  made  an  individual  and  a  social 
being,  and  that  his  whole  humanity  with  all  its 
attributes,  moral,  religious,  emotional,  mental,  cul 
tural  and  industrial,  is  decreed  forever  to  revolve 
between  the  two  poles  of  individualism  and  socialism, 
taking  the  latter  term  in  its  strictly  philosophical 
adaptation.  Man's  moral  individualism  and  the  sove 
reign  necessity  of  his  living  in  society,  or  the  fact  that 
humanity  and  society  are  two  ideas  that  cannot  even 
be  conceived  of,  the  one  without  the  other,  lead  to 
the  twin  ideas  of  Right  and  Duty.  Political  science 
dwells  upon  this  most  important  elementary  truth, 
that  the  idea  of  right  cannot  be  philosophically 
stated  without  the  idea  of  obligation,  nor  that  of 
duty  without  that  of  right,  and  it  must  show  how 
calamitous  every  attempt  has  proved  to  separate 
them ;  how  debasing  a  thing  obligation  becomes 
without  corresponding  rights,  and  how  withering 
rights  and  privileges  become  to  the  hand  that  wields 
the  power  and  to  the  fellow-being  over  whom  it 
sways,  if  separated  from  corresponding  duty  and 
obligation. 

Right  and  duty  are  twin  brothers ;  they  are  like 
the  two  electric  flames  appearing  at  the  yard-arms 
in  the  Mediterranean,  and  were  called  by  the  ancient 
mariners  Castor  and  Pollux.  "When  both  are  visible, 

7 


98  ADDKESS 

a  fair  and  pleasant  course  is  expected ;  but  one  alone 
portends  stormy  mischief.  An  instinctive  acknowl 
edgment  of  this  truth  makes  us  repeat  with  plea 
sure  to  this  day  the  old  French  maxim,  Noblesse 
oblige,  whatever  annotations  history  may  have  to  tell 
of  its  disregard.* 

That  philosopher,  whom  Dante  calls  il  maestro  di 
color  die  sanno,  and  whom  our  science  gratefully 
acknowledges  as  its  own  founder,  says  that  man  is 
by  nature  a  political  animal.  He  saw  that  man  can 
not  divest  himself  of  the  State.  Society,  no  matter 
in  how  rudimental  a  condition,  always  exists,  and  so 
ciety  considered  with  reference  to  rights  and  duties, 
to  rules  to  be  obeyed,  and  to  privileges  to  be  pro 
tected,  to  those  that  ordain,  and  those  that  comply, 
is  the  political  state.  Government  was  never  voted 
into  existence,  and  the  state  originates  every  day 
anew  in  the  family.  God  coerces  man  into  society, 
and  necessitates  the  growth  of  government  by  that 
divinely  simple  law,  which  has  been  alluded  to  before, 
and  consists  in  making  the  young  of  man  depend 
upon  the  parents  for  years  after  the  period  of  lacta 
tion  has  ceased.  As  men  and  society  advance,  the 
greatest  of  institutions — the  State — increases  in  inten- 


*  In  this  sense  at  least  Noblesse  oblige  was  often  taken,  that  feudal  privi 
leges  over  feudal  subjects  involved  obligations  to  them,  although  it  meant 
originally  the  obligations  due  to  him  who  bestowed  the  nobility. 


OF    MR.     LIEBEK.  99 

sity  of  action,  and  when  humanity  falters  back,  the 
State,  like  the  function  of  a  diseased  organ,  becomes 
sluggish  or  acts  with  ruinous  feverishness.  In  this 
twinship  of  right  and  duty  lies  the  embryonic  gene 
sis  of  liberty,  and  at  the  same  time  the  distinction 
between  sincere  and  seasoned  civil  liberty,  and  the 
wild  and  one-sided  privilege  of  one  man  or  a  class ;  or 
the  fantastic  equality  of  all  in  point  of  rights  with 
out  the  steadying  pendulum  of  mutual  obligation. 

This  leads  us  to  that  division  which  I  have  called 
elsewhere  Political  Ethics,  in  which  the  teacher  will 
not  fail  to  use  his  best  efforts,  when  he  discourses  on 
patriotism — that  ennobling  virtue  which  at  times  has 
been  derided,  at  other  times  declared  incompati 
ble  with  true  philosophy  or  with  pure  religion.  He 
will  not  teach  that  idolatrous  patriotism  which  in 
scribes  on  its  banner,  Our  country,  right  or  wrong, 
but  that  heightened  public  spirit,  which  loves  and 
honors  father  and  mother,  and  neighbors,  and  coun 
try  ;  which  makes  us  deeply  feel  for  our  country's 
glory  and  its  faults;  makes  us  willing  to  die,  and, 
what  is  often  far  more  difficult,  to  live  for  it;  that 
patriotism  which  is  consistent  with  St.  Paul's  com 
mand:  Honor  all  men,  and  which  can  say  with 
Montesquieu,  "  If  I  knew  anything  useful  to  my  coun 
try  but  prejudicial  to  Europe  or  mankind,  I  should 
consider  it  as  a  crime  ;"  that  sentiment  which  made 


100  ADDRESS 

the  Athenians  reject  the  secret  of  Themistocles,  be 
cause  Aristides  declared  it  very  useful  to  Athens, 
but  very  injurious  to  Sparta  and  to  the  other  Greeks. 
The  Christian  citizen  can  say  with  Tertullian,  Civita-s 
nostra  totus  mmidus,  and  abhors  that  patriotism 
which  is  at  best  bloated  provincialism,  but  he 
knows,  too,  that  that  society  is  doomed  to  certain 
abasement  in  which  the  indifference  of  the  ~blase 
is  permitted  to  debilitate  and  demoralize  public 
sentiment.  The  patriotism  of  which  we  stand  as 
much  in  need  as  the  ancients,  is  neither  an  amiable 
weakness,  nor  the  Hellenic  pride.  It  is  a  positive 
virtue  demanded  of  every  moral  man.  It  is  the 
fervent  love  of  our  own  country,  but  not  hatred  of 
others,  nor  blindness  to  our  faults  and  to  the  rights 
or  superiorities  of  our  neighbors. 

We  now  approach  that  branch  of  our  science 
which  adds,  to  the  knowledge  of  the  "  end  and  rea 
sons  of  political  societies,"  the  discussion  of  the  means 
by  which  man  endeavors  to  obtain  the  end  or  ought 
to  obtain  it ;  in  one  word,  to  the  science  of  govern 
ment,  and  a  knowledge  of  governments  which  exist 
and  have  existed.  The  "  end  and  reasons  of  political 
societies"  involve  the  main  discussion  of  the  object 
of  the  State,  as  it  is  more  clearly  discerned  with  ad 
vancing  civilization,  the  relation  of  the  State  to  the 
family,  its  duties  to  the  individual,  and  the  necessary 


OF    ME.    LIEBEE.  101 

limits  of  its  power.  Protection,  in  the  highest  sense 
of  the  word,*  both  of  society,  as  a  whole,  and  of  the 
component  individuals,  as  such,  without  interference, 
and  free  from  intermeddling,  is  the  great  object  of 
the  civilized  State,  or  the  State  of  freemen.  To  this 
portion  of  our  science  belong  the  great  topics  of  the 
rights  as  well  as  the  dependence  of  the  individual 
citizen,  of  the  woman  and  the  child ;  of  primordial 
rights  and  the  admissibility  or  violence  of  slavery, 
which,  throughout  the  whole  course  of  history  where- 
ever  it  has  been  introduced,  has  been  a  deciduous 
institution.  The  reflection  on  the  duties  of  the  State 
comprehends  the  important  subjects  of  the  necessity 
of  public  education  (the  common  school  for  those 
who  are  deprived  of  means,  or  destitute  of  the  desire 
to  be  educated ;  and  the  university,  which  lies  beyond 
the  capacity  of  private  means);  of  the  support  of  those 
who  cannot  support  themselves  (the  pauper,  and  the 
poor  orphans  and  sick)  ;  of  intercommunication  and 
intercommunion  (the  road  and  the  mail)  ;  of  the  pro 
motion  of  taste  and  the  fine  arts,  and  the  public  sup 
port  of  religion,  or  the  abstaining  from  it ;  and  the 
duty  of  settling  conflicting  claims,  and  of  punishing 

*  That  I  do  not  mean  by  this  material  protection  only,  but  the  protection 
of  all  interests,  the  highest  no  less  so  than  the  common  ones,  of  society  as 
a  unit,  as  well  as  of  the  individual  human  being,  will  be  well  known  to  the 
reader  of  my  Political  Ethics.  I  do  by  no  means  restrict  the  meaning  of 
Protection  to  personal  security,  nor  do  I  mean  by  this  term  something  that 
amounts  to  the  protection  of  an  interest  in  one  person  to  the  injury  of  others. 


102  ADDRESS 

those  that  infringe  the  common  rules  of  action,  with 
the  science  and  art  of  rightful  and  sensible  punition, 
or,  as  I  have  ventured  to  call  this  branch,  of  penology. 
The  comprehensive  apparatus  by  which  all  these 
objects,  more  or  less  dimly  seen,  according  to  the 
existing  stage  of  civil  progress,  are  intended  to  be 
obtained,  and  by  which  a  political  society  evolves  its 
laws,  is  called  government.  I  generally  give  at  this 
stage  a  classification  of  all  governments,  in  the  present 
time  or  in  the  past,  according  to  the  main  principles 
on  which  they  rest.  This  naturally  leads  to  three 
topics,  the  corresponding  ones  of  which,  in  some 
other  sciences,  form  but  important  illustrations  or 
constitute  a  certain  amount  of  interesting  knowledge, 
but  which  in  our  science  constitute  part  and  par 
cel  of  the  branch  itself.  I  mean  a  historical  sur 
vey  of  all  governments  and  systems  of  law,  Asiatic 
or  European ;  a  survey  of  all  political  literature  as 
represented  by  its  prominent  authors,  from  Aristotle 
and  Plato,  or  from  the  Hindoo  Menu,  down  to  St. 
Simon  or  Calhoun — a  portion  of  the  science  which 
necessarily  includes  many  historians  and  theologians 
on  the  one  hand,  such  as  Mariana,  De  Soto  and 
Machiavelli,  and  on  the  other  hand  statesmen  that 
have  poured  forth  wisdom  or  criminal  theories  in 
public  speech,  Demosthenes  or  Webster,  Chatham, 
Burke,  Mirabeau  or  Robespierre  and  St.  Juste.  And 


OF    ME.     LEEBER.  103 

lastly,  I  mean  that  division  of  our  science  which  in 
deed  is,  properly,  a  subdivision  of  the  latter,  but  suf 
ficiently  important  and  instructive  to  be  treated 
separately — a  survey  of  those  model  states  which 
political  philosophers  have  from  time  to  time  imag 
ined,  and  which  we  now  call  Utopias,  from  Plato's 
Atlantis  to  Thomas  More's  Utopia,  Campanella's  Civi- 
tas  Solis  or  Harrington's  Oceana  to  our  socialists,  or 
Shelley's  and  Coleridge's  imaginings  and  the  hallucina 
tions  of  Comte.  They  are  growing  rarer  and,  proba 
bly,  will  in  time  wholly  cease.  Superior  minds,  at  any 
rate,  could  feel  stimulated  to  conceive  of  so-called  phi 
losophical  republics,  in  ages  only  when  everything 
existing  in  a  definite  form — languages,  mythologies, 
agriculture  and  governments- — was  ascribed  to  a  cor 
respondingly  definite  invention,  or,  at  times,  to  an 
equally  definite  inspiration,  and  when  society  was 
not  clearly  conceived  to  be  a  continuity ;  when  far 
less  attention  was  paid  to  the  idea  of  progress,  which 
is  a  succession  of  advancing  steps,  and  to  the  historic 
genesis  of  institutions  ;  and  when  the  truth  was  not 
broadly  acknowledged  that  civilization,  whether  po 
litical  or  not,  cannot  divest  itself  of  its  accumulative 
and  progressive  character. 

This  Utopiology,  if  you  permit  me  the  name,  will 
include  those  attempts  at  introducing,  by  sudden  and 
volcanic  action,  entirely  new  governments  resulting 


104  ADDEESS 

from  some  fanatical  theory,  such  as  the  common 
wealth  of  the  anabaptists  in  Germany,  or  the  at 
tempts  of  carrying  out  Rousseau's  equalitarian  hatred 
of  representative  government,  by  Marat  and  Callot 
d'Herbois.  They  have  all  been  brief  and  bloody. 

When  the  teacher  of  political  philosophy  discourses 
on  the  first  of  these  three  divisions  he  will  not  omit 
to  dwell  on  the  communal  governments  and  the  later 
almost  universal  despotism,  of  Asia,  which  reduces 
the  subject,  both  as  to  property  and  life,  to  a  tenant 
at  will ;  he  will  dwell  on  the  type  of  the  city-state, 
prevailing  in  Greek  and  Roman  antiquity,  and  the 
strong  admixture  of  communism  in  those  states,  espe 
cially  in  the  Greek ;  he  will  show  how  that  religion, 
whose  founder  proclaimed  that  his  kingdom  is  not  of 
this  world,  nevertheless  affected  all  political  organiza 
tion  far  more  than  aught  else  has  done,  because,  more 
than  anything  else,  it  affected  the  inner  man,  and  that, . 
in  one  respect,  it  intensified  individualism,  for  it  exalted 
the  individual  moral  character  and  responsibility.  In 
dividual  duties  and  individual  rights  received  greater 
• 

importance,  and  Christianity  leveled  all  men  before  an 
omniscient  Judge  and  a  common  Father.  From  the 
time  when  the  worshiped  emperor  of  Rome  decreed 
that  the  Christians,  then  confounded  with  the  Jews, 
should  depart  from  Italy,  because,  as  Suetonius  says, 
they  were  Christo  impulsore  tumultuantes,  the  Ro- 


OF    ME.     LEEBER.  105 

mans  perceived  that  there  was  that  in  the  Christian 
which  made  him  bow  before  a  higher  authority  than 
that  of  the  Caesars.  "  Christ  impelling  them,  they 
are  disturbers  " — yet  they  obeyed  the  law,  as  Pliny, 
the  governor,  writes  to  his  friend  and  emperor,  only 
they  could  not  be  induced  to  strew  the  sacred  meal 
on  the  altar  of  Jove,  and  Christianity  wrought  on  in 
the  breasts  of  men,  until  Julian  loses  the  battle,  and, 
as  tradition  at  least  says,  exclaims  in  dying:  "Oh 
Galilean,  thou  hast  conquered  !" 

The  teacher  will  dwell  on  that  type  of  government 
which  succeeded  and  is  the  opposite  to  the  ancient 
city-state — the  feudal  system  with  its  graduated 
and  subdivided  allegiance  ;  and  he  will  show  how  at 
last  the  period  of  nationalization  arrived  for  govern 
ments  and  languages,  and  national  governments,  with 
direct  and  uniform  allegiance,  at  last  developed 
and  became  the  accompaniments  of  mod 
ern  civilization ;  when  real  states  were  formed,  com 
pact  governments  extending  over  large  territories. 
The  ancients  had  but  one  word  for  state  and  city ; 
the  mediaeval  government  is  justly  called  a  mere  sys 
tem  (the  feudal  system) ;  the  moderns  have  states, 
whether  unitary  or  confederated  does  not  affect  this 
point. 

When  an  account  is  given  of  the  imaginary  gov 
ernments,  which  the  greater  or  lesser  philosophers 


106  ADDRESS 

have  constructed  as  ideal  polities,  attention  must  be 
directed  to  the  striking  fact  that  all  Utopists,  from 
Plato  to  our  times,  have  been  more  or  less  commu 
nists,  making  war  upon  money,  although  so  shrewd  and 
wise  a  man  as  Thomas  More  was  among  them ;  and 
that  most  of  these  writers,  even  Campanella,  though 
a  priest  of  the  catholic  church,  and  all  societies  in 
which  communism  has  been  carried  out  to  any  extent, 
have  made  light  of  monogamic  wedlock,  or  have  open 
ly  proclaimed  the  community  or  a  plurality  of  wives.* 

*  Auguste  Comte,  who  was  generally  considered  the  most  serious  and 
most  able  atheist,  yet  known  in  the  annals  of  science,  as  long  as  his  Positive 
Philosophy  was  the  only  work  that  attracted  attention,  makes  one  of  the 
exceptions.  In  his  Catechism  of  Positive  Religion,  which  belongs  to  the 
Utopian  literature,  proclaiming  the  regeneration  and  the  reconstruction  of  all 
human  society,  and  covering  it  with  the  aegis  of  a  paper-system  rubricked 
according  to  a  priestly  socialistic  Caesarism,  nevertheless  acknowledges  mono 
gamy,  and  individual  property  in  a  considerable  degree.  The  work,  however, 
amply  makes  up  for  these  omissions,  by  an  incredible  amount  of  inane  vaga 
ries,  self-contradictions  and  that  apotheosis  of  absolutism,  "organizing"  all 
things  and  allowing  inherent  life  nowhere,  which  is  the  idol  of  Gallican  sociolo 
gists,  as  the  fallen  Romans  burnt  incense  to  the  images  of  their  emperors  even 
while  living,  or  rather  as  long  as  they  lived  ;  for,  so  soon  as  the  emperor  was 
dead,  his  memory  was  often  senatorially  cursed,  and  his  images  were  decreed 
to  be  broken.  Power  was  the  only  thing  left,  when  the  introduction  of  the 
many  thousands  of  gods,  from  the  conquered  countries,  neutralized  all  sense 
of  religion,  and  power  was  worshiped  accordingly.  The  Suetoniana  of  the 
nineteenth  century  are  not  wholly  dissimilar. 

Nothing  has  probably  ever  shown  so  strikingly  the  inherent  religious  char 
acter  of  man  as  Comte's  apotheosis  of  atheism,  and  his  whole  "catechism,'' 
sprinkled  as  it  is  with  prayers  to  the  "  supreme  being,"  which  being,  to  be 
sure,  is  void  of  being  and  cannot,  therefore,  very  well  be  possessed  of  supre 
macy. 

From  time  to  time  great  men  have  declared  what  they  considered  the  great 
est  of  evils.  Aristotle  says,  "The  fellest  of  things  is  armed  injustice." 
Bacon  declares  that  the  greatest  of  evils  is  the  apotheosis  of  error;  but, 
somehow,  men  seem  always  to  contrive  to  prove  that  there  may  be  still 
greater  evils. 


OF    MR.    LIEBEB.  107 

We  have  our  protestant  counterpart  to  Campanella 
in  the  Eev.  Martin  Madan,  the  author  of  Thelyp- 
thora,  a  Defense  of  a  Plurality  of  Wives.  Hostility 
to  individualism  in  property  has  generally  been 
accompanied  by  a  hostility  to  exclusive  wedlock,  in 
antiquity  and  modern  times,  and  I  believe  I  am  not 
wrong  when  I  add,  very  often  by  a  leaning  to  pan 
theism,  in  the  sphere  of  religion.  But  the  Utopists 
are*  not  the  only  communists.  Paley,  who  would  have 
shrunk  from  being  called  a  communist,  nevertheless 
explains  individual  property  on  the  mere  ground  of 
his  "  expediency"  and  in  a  manner  which  the  avowed 
communists  of  our  times — Quinesset  and  Proudhon — 
have  been  willing  to  accept,  only  they  differ  as  to 
the  expediency,  and  why  not  differ  on  that  ?  Paley 
and  the  larger  portion  of  modern  publicists  main 
tained,  and  even  Webster  asserted  on  a  solemn  occa 
sion,*  that  property  is  the  creature  of  government. 
But  government  is  the  agent  of  society,  so  that,  if  the 
same  society  should  see  fit  to  change  the  order  of 
things,  and  to  undo  its  own  doing,  no  objection  can 
be  made  on  the  ground  of  right  and  justice.  Rous 
seau  says,  indeed,  that  the  first  fence  erected  to  sep 
arate  land  from  the  common  stock,  brought  misery 

*  It  was  the  perusal  of  this  assertion  by  Mr.  Webster,  in  a  speech  in  Ohio, 
in  1828,  which  first  led  the  author  to  reflections  which  were  ultimately  given 
in  his  Essays  on  Labor  and  Property.  He  totally  denies  that  property  is  the 
creature  of  government. 


108  ADDKESS 

upon  men,  and  Proudhon  formulated  this  idea  when 
he  said :  Property  is  theft ;  but  the  point  of  starting 
is  common  to  all. 

The  radical  error  of  the  communist  consists  in  his 
exclusive  acknowledgment  of  the  principle  of  social 
ism,  and  that  he  endeavors  to  apply  it  even  to  that 
which  has  its  very  origin  and  being  in  individualism — 
to  property.  Man  can  not  exist  without  producing ; 
production  always  presupposes  appropriation ;  both 
are  essentially  individual,  and  where  appropriation 
consists  in  occupation  by  a  society  as  a  unit,  this  is 
no  less  exclusive  or  individual  property,  with  refer 
ence  to  all  other  societies,  than  the  property  held  by 
a  single  man.  The  communist  does  not  seem  to  see 
the  absurdity  of  demanding  common  property  for  all 
men  in  France,  upon  what  he  considers  philosophic 
grounds,  yet  excluding  the  rest  of  mankind  from  that 
property.  The  radical  error  of  the  individualist,  on 
the  other  hand,  is,  that  he  wholly  disavows  the 
principle  of  socialism,  and,  generally,  reasons  on  the 
unstable  and  shaking  ground  of  expediency  alone. 
He  forgets  that  both,  individualism  and  socialism,  are 
true  and  ever-active  principles,  and  that  the  very 
idea  of  the  state  implies  both  ;  for,  the  state  is  a  so 
ciety,  and  a  society  consists  of  individuals  who  never 
lose  their  individual  character,  but  are  united  by 
common  bonds,  interests,  organizations  and  a  common 


OF    ME.     LIEBEK.  109 

continuity.  A  society  is  not  represented  by  a  mass 
of  iron  in  which  the  original  particles  of  the  ore  have 
lost  all  separate  existence  by  refinement  and  smelt 
ing  ;  nor  is  it  represented  by  a  crowd  of  units  acci 
dentally  huddled  together.  It  is  on  the  principle  of 
socialism  alone  that  it  can  be  explained  why  I  may 
be  forced,  and  ought  to  be  so,  to  pay  my  share  toward 
the  war  which  I  may  loathe,  but  upon  which  my 
state,  my  society  has  resolved.  How  will  you  ex 
plain  that  charity  is  no  longer  left  wholly  to  depend 
upon  individual  piety,  but  that  the  government  takes 
part  of  my  property  in  the  shape  of  a  poor-tax,  to  sup 
port  the  indigent  ?  or  how  is  the  potent  right  of  roads 
to  be  explained  ?  that  I  must  pay  toward  common 
education  when  I  may  educate  my  children  in  a  pri 
vate  school  or  may  have  none  at  all  to  be  educated  ? 
or  toward  a  scientific  expedition,  or  to  support  the 
administration  of  justice,  when  I  may  not  have  had 
a  single  law-suit  or  when  I  might  think  it  more  con 
venient  to  return  to  the  primitive  age  of  private  re 
venge  ?  On  what  principle  do  you  prohibit  infamous 
books  ?  Why  must  I  bear  the  folly  of  my  legislators 
or  submit  to  the  consequences  of  a  crude  diplomatist  ? 
Why  are  we  proud  of  the  willing  submission  of  the 
minority  after  a  passionately-contested  presidential 
election?  The  principle  of  socialism  is  interwoven 
with  our  whole  existence ;  for,  it  is  a  social  existence. 


110  ADDEES8 

How,  again,  can  we  explain  the  very  idea  of  rights, 
the  protection  of  man,  all  the  contents  of  all  the  bills 
of  rights — the  liberty  of  the  press  or  communion,  the 
freedom  of  worship  or  the  right  we  have  to  slay  the 
sheriff  that  breaks  into  our  house  with  an  illegal 
warrant,  if  not  on  the  ground  of  individualism  ?  All 
taxation  is  founded  on  socialism,  inasmuch  as  society 
takes  by  force,  actual  or  threatened,  part  of  my  own, 
and  on  individualism,  because  it  is  proportioned  ac 
cording  to  the  capacity  of  the  individual  to  pay  and 
takes  a  lawful  portion  only.  When  the  Athenian 
council  decreed  a  liturgy,  there  was  socialism  indeed 
pretty  strongly  prevailing.  The  principle  of  individ 
ualism  is  everywhere,  for  our  existence  is,  also,  an  indi 
vidual  one.  "We  shudder  instinctively  at  the  idea  of 
losing  our  individuality,  and  our  religion  teaches  that 
we  must  take  it  with  us  beyond  the  limits  of  time. 
Even  a  heathen,  a  Hindoo  law-giver,  said  long  be 
fore  our  era :  "  Single  is  each  man  born ;  single  he 
dieth;  single  he  receiveth  the  reward  of  his  good, 
and  single  the  punishment  for  his  evil  deeds." 

The  two  principles  of  humanity,  individualism  and 
socialism,  show  themselves  from  the  very  beginning 
in  their  incipient  pulsations,  and  as  mankind  advance 
they  become  more  and  more  distinct  and  assume 
more  and  more  their  legitimate  spheres.  Individu 
alism  is  far  more  distinct  with  us  than  in  anti- 


OF     MR.     LIEBER.  Ill 

quity,  in  property  and  in  the  rights  of  man,  with  all 
that  flows  from  them;  and  socialism  is  far  more 
clearly  developed  with  us  than  with  the  Greeks  or 
Koinans,  in  primary  education,  charity,  intercommuni 
on  by  the  liberty  of  the  press  or  the  mail,  the  punitary 
systems,  sanitary  measures,  public  justice  and  the  many 
spheres  in  which  the  united  private  wants  have  been 
raised  to  public  interests,  and  often  passed  even  into 
the  sphere  of  international  law.  Christianity,  which, 
historically  speaking,  is  a  co-efficient  of  the  highest 
power  of  nearly  all  the  elements  of  humanity  and 
civilization,  has  had  an  intensifying  effect  on  individu 
alism  as  well  as  on  socialism.  There  is,  perhaps,  no 
more  striking  instance  of  a  higher  degree  of  individu 
alism  and  socialism  developed  at  the  same  time,  than 
in  the  administration  of  penal  justice,  which  always 
begins  with  private  revenge  and  gradually  becomes 
public  justice,  when  the  government  obliges  every 
one  to  pay  toward  the  punishment  of  a  person  that  has 
directly  injured  only  one  other  individual.  Yet  indi 
vidualism  is  more  developed  in  this  advanced  adminis 
tration  of  justice,  inasmuch  as  it  always  pronounces 
clearer  and  clearer,  and  more  and  more  precautions 
are  taken,  that  the  individual  wrong-doer  alone  shall 
suffer.  There  is  no  atonement  demanded,  as  was  the 
case  with  the  Greeks,  but  plain  punishment  for  a 
proved  wrong,  so  that,  if  the  crime  is  proved  but  not 


112     ^  ADDKESS 

the  criminal,  we  do  not  demand,  on  the  ground  of 
socialism,  the  suffering  of  some  one,  which  the  Greeks 
frequently  did. 

Act  on  individualism  alone,  and  you  would  reduce 
society  to  a  mere  crowd  of  egotistical  units,  far  be 
low  the  busy  but  peaceful  inmates  of  the  ant-hill; 
act  on  socialism  alone,  and  you  reduce  society  to 
loathsome  despotism,  in  which  individuals  would 
be  distinguished  by  a  mere  number,  as  the  in 
mates  of  Sing  Sing.  Despotism,  of  whatever  name, 
is  the  most  equalitarian  government.  The  communist 
forgets  that  communism  in  property,  as  far  as  it  can 
exist  in  reality,  is  a  characteristic  feature  of  low  bar 
barism.  Herodotus  tells  us  what  we  find  with  exist 
ing  savages.  Mine  and  Thine  in  property  and 
marriage  is  but  dimly  known  by  them.  The  com 
munist  wants  to  "  organize,"  as  he  calls  it,  but  in  fact 
to  disindividualize  everything,  even  effort  and  labor, 
and  a  garden  of  the  times  of  Louis  XV.,  in  which 
the  ruthless  shears  have  cramped  and  crippled  every 
tree  into  a  slavish  uniformity,  seems  to  delight  his 
eye  more  than  a  high  forest,  with  its  organic  life  and 
freedom.  Hobbes,  who,  two  centuries  ago,  passed 
through  the  whole  theory  of  all-absorbing  power  con 
veyed  to  one  man  by  popular  compact,  which  we  now 
meet  with  once  more  in  French  Csesarism,  defined 
religion  as  that  superstition  which  is  established  by 


OF    MR.    LIEBER.  113 

government,  and  we  recollect  how  closely  allied  all 
despotism  is  to  communism.  The  highest  liberty — 
that  civil  freedom  which  protects  individual  humanity 
in  the  highest  degree,  and  at  the  same  time  provides 
society  with  the  safest  and  healthiest  organism  through 
which  it  obtains  its  social  ends  of  protection  and  his 
toric  position — may  not  inaptly  be  said  to  consist 
in  a  due  separation  and  conjunction  of  individualism 
and  socialism.* 

One  more  remark.  It  is  a  striking  fact  that  the 
old  adage,  all  extremes  meet,  has  been  illustrated  by 
none  more  forcibly  than  by  the  socialists ;  for  the 
most  enthusiastic  socialists  of  France,  America  and 
Germany  have  actually  come  to  the  conclusion,  that 
there  need  be  and  ought  to  be  no  government  at 
all  among  men  truly  free,  except,  indeed,  as  one  of 

*  It  is  for  these  reasons  that  the  new  term  sociology  seems  to  be  inappropri 
ate.  Years  ago  it  suggested  itself  to  the  author,  when  he  desired  to  find  a  term 
more  comprehensive  and  more  compact  than  that  of  political  philosophy,  but  he 
soon  discarded  it.  If  those  French  writers  adopt  it,  in  whose  theories  the  idea 
of  society  absorbs  almost  all  individualism,  it  is  consistent.  With  them  society, 
or  the  government  which  is  its  agent, whether  monarchical  or  republican,  is  ex 
pected  and  demanded  to  provide  for  everything,  to  organize  all  relations,  and 
to  do  all  things  that  can  possibly  be  done  by  the  government ;  but  it  is  to  be 
regretted  that  men  like  Lord  Brougham  have  adopted  the  term.  The  national 
society  ought  not  to  be  the  all-absorbing  one,  nor  is  the  jural  society  the  only 
important  society  to  which  the  individual  of  our  race  belongs.  We  belong 
to  societies  of  great  importance,  which  are  narrower  than  the  State,  and  to 
others  which  extend  far  beyond  it,  as  is  sufficiently  shown  by  the  religious 
society  or  church,  the  economical  society  or  society  of  production  and  ex 
change,  the  society  of  comity,  the  society  of  letters  and  science  (for  instance, 
in  Germany  or  that  which  covers  England  and  the  United  States),  and  the 
international  society  embracing  all  the  Cis-Caucasian  people. 
8 


114  ADDRESS 

our  own  most  visionary  socialists  naively  adds,  for 
roads  and  some  such  things.  For  them  Aristotle 
discovered  in  vain  that :  Man  is  by  nature  a  political 
animal.  "  Leave  them  and  pa$s  on." 

The  political  philosopher  will  now  take  in  hand, 
as  a  separate  topic,  our  own  polity  and  political 
existence ;  and  this  will  lead  to  our  great  theme,  to 
a  manly  discussion  of  Civil  Liberty  and  Self-Govern 
ment.  We  are  here  in  the  peristyle  of  a  vast  temple, 
and  I  dare  not  enter  it  with  you  at  present,  for  fear 
that  all  the  altars  and  statues  and  votive  tablets  of 
humanity,  with  all  the  marbled  records  of  high  mar 
tyrdom  and  sanguinary  errors,  would  detain  us  far 
beyond  the  midnight  hour.  It  is  our  American 
theme,  and  we,  above  all  men,  are  called  upon  to 
know  it  well,  with  all  the  aspirations,  all  the  duties 
and  precious  privileges,  all  the  struggles,  achieve 
ments,  dangers  and  errors,,  all  the  pride  and  humilia 
tion,  the  checks  and  impulses,  the  law  and  untrameled 
action,  the  blessings  and  the  blood,  the  great  realities, 
the  mimicry  and  licentiousness,  the  generous  sacri 
fices  and  the  self-seeking,  with  all  these  memories  and 
actualities — all  wound  up  in  the  memory,  of  that  one 
word  Liberty. 

And  now  the  student  will  be  prepared  to  enter 
upon  that  branch  which  is  the  glory  of  our  race  in 
modern  history,  and  possibly  the  greatest  achieve- 


OF     ME.     LIEBER.  115 

inent  of  combined  judgment  and  justice,  acting  under 
the  genial  light  of  culture  and  religion — on  Interna 
tional  Law,  that  law  which  has  gathered  even  the 
ocean  under  its  foldiX  The  ancients  knew  it  not  in 
their  best  time ;  and  life  and  property,  once  having 
left  the  shore,  were  out  of  the  pale  of  law  and  justice. 
Even  down  to  our  Columbus,  the  mariner  stood  by 
the  helm  with  his  sword,  and  watched  the  compass 
in  armor. 

Political  science  treats  of  man  in  his  most  import 
ant  earthly  phase  ;  the  State  is  the  institution  which 
has  to  protect  or  to  check  all  his  endeavors,  and,  in 
turn,  reflects  them.  It  is  natural,  therefore,  that  a 
thorough  course  of  this  branch  should  become,  in  a 
great  measure,  a  delineation  of  the  history  of  civiliza 
tion,  with  all  the  undulations  of  humanity,  from  that 
loose  condition  of  men  in  which  Barth  found  many 
of  our  fellow-beings  in  Central  Africa,  to  our  own 
accumulated  civilization,  which  is  like  a  rich  tapestry, 
the  main  threads  of  which  are  Grecian  intellectuality, 
Christian  morality  and  trans-mundane  thought,  Ro 
man  law  and  institutionality,  and  Teutonic  individual 
independence,  especially  developed  in  Anglican  lib 
erty  and  self-government. 

Need  I  add  that  the  student,  having  passed  through 
these  fields  and  having  viewed  these  regions,  will  be 
the  better  prepared  for  the  grave  purposes  for  which 


116  ADDRESS     OF    MR.     LIEBER. 

this  country  destines  him,  and  as  a  partner  in  the 
great  commonwealth  of  self-government?  If  not, 
then  strike  these  sciences  from  your  catalogue.  It  is 
true,  indeed,  that  the  scholar  is  no  consecrated  priest 
of  knowledge,  if  he  does  not  love  it  for  the  sake  of 
knowledge.  And  this  is  even  important  in  a  prac 
tical  point  of  view ;  for  all  knowledge,  to  be  usefully 
applied,  must  be  far  in  advance  of  its  application.  It 
is  like  the  sun,  which,  we  are  told,  causes  the  plant 
to  grow  when  he  has  already  sunk  below  the  horizon ; 
yet  I  acknowledge  without  reserve,  for  all  public 
instruction  and  all  education,  the  token  which  I  am  in 
the  habit  of  taking  into  every  lecture  room  of  mine, 
to  impress  it  ever  anew  on  my  mind  and  on  that  of 
my  hearers,  that  we  teach  and  learn : 

WON   SCHOLJ3   SED    VITLE,*    VITJE  UTRIQUE. 

*  Seneca. 


MATHEMATICS: 

INAUGURAL      ADDRESS 


CHARLES  DAYIES,  LL.  D., 

PROFESSOR    OF    MATHEMATICS    IN    COLUMBIA    COLLEGE, 


C  \t  lUtuo,  finipap,  Eitb   Em 

OK 

MATHEMATICAL  SCIENCE, 

February  llth,  1858. 


ADDRESS, 

THE  first,  and  surely  the  most  difficult  duty 
assigned  to  me  by  the  Board  of  Trustees,  is  that 
of  explaining  to  a  popular  audience  the  nature  of 
Mathematical  Science — the  forms  of  its  language — 
its  uses  as  a  means  of  mental  training  and  develop 
ment — its  value  as  the  true  basis  of  the  practical — 
the  sources  of  knowledge  which  it  opens  to  the  mind 
and  the  place  which  it  should  occupy  in  a  justly  bal 
anced  system  of  Collegiate  instruction. 

The  term  Mathematics,  as  used  by  the  ancients,  em 
braced  every  known  Science  and  was  also  applicable 
to  all  other  branches  of  Knowledge.  Subsequently,  it 
was  restricted  to  those  more  difficult  subjects  which 
require  continuous  attention,  severe  study,  patient 
investigation  and  exact  reasoning;  and  such  subjects 
were  called  Disciplinal,  or  Mathematical. 

Mathematics,  as  a  science,  is  conversant  about  the 
laws  of  Numbers  and  Space.  The  two  abstract  quan 
tities,  Number  and  Space,  are  the  only  subjects  of 
Mathematical  Science.  The  laws  which  are  evolved  in 
the  processes  employed  in  searching  out  the  elements 


120  ME.     DAVIES*     ADDRESS. 

of  these  abstract  quantities,  in  discussing  their  rela 
tions,  and  in  framing  a  proper  language  by  means  of 
which  these  relations  can  be  recorded  and  a  knowl 
edge  of  them  communicated,  constitute  the  Science 
of  Mathematics.  The  faculties  of  the  mind  chiefly 
employed  in  the  cultivation  of  this  Science  are  sim 
ply,  the  apprehension,  the  judgment  and  the  reason 
ing  faculty. 

The  term  quantity,  applicable  both  to  number  and 
space,  embraces  but  eight  classes  of  units :  1st,  Ab 
stract  Units ;  2d,  Units  of  Currency ;  3d,  Units  of 
Length ;  4th,  Units  of  Surface ;  5th,  Units  of  Vol 
ume  ;  6th,  Units  of  Weight ;  7th,  Units  of  Time ; 
and  8th,  Units  of  Angular  Measure. 

The  laws  which  make  up  the  Science  of  Mathema 
tics  are  established  in  a  series  of  logical  propositions, 
deduced  from  a  few  self-evident  notions  of  these  uni 
ties,  which  are  all  referred  to  number  and  space.  All 
the  definitions  and  axioms,  and  all  the  truths  deduced 
from  them,  by  processes  of  reasoning,  are  therefore 
traceable  to  these  two  sources. 

In  mathematics,  names  imply  the  existence  of  the 
things  which  they  name,  and  the  definitions  of  those 
names  express  attributes  of  the  things.  Hence,  all 
definitions  do,  in  fact,  rest  on  the  intuitive  inference 
that  things  corresponding  to  the  words  defined  have  a 
conceivable  existence  as  subjects  of  thought,  and  do,  or 


MR.    DAVIES'    ADDKESS.  121 

may  have,  proximatively,  an  actual  existence.  Every 
definition  of  this  class  is  a  tacit  assumption  of  some 
proposition,  which  is  expressed  by  means  of  the  defini 
tion,  and  which  gives  to  such  definition  its  importance. 

The  axioms  of  Geometry  are  intuitive  inductions ; 
that  is,  they  are  perfectly  conceived  by  a  single  pro 
cess  of  the  mind,  without  the  intervention  of  other 
ideas,  the  moment  the  facts  on  which  they  depend 
are  apprehended.  When  we  say,  "  A  whole  is  equal 
to  the  sum  of  all  its  parts,"  or,  "  A  whole  is  greater 
than  any  of  its  parts,"  the  mind  immediately  refers 
to  a  single  thing,  divided  into  parts;  it  then  com 
pares  the  whole  thing  with  all  its  parts,  or  the 
whole  thing  with  some  of  its  parts  ;  and  then  infers, 
by  a  process  of  generalization,  that  what  is  true  of 
one  thing  and  its  parts  is  also  true  of  every  other 
thing  and  its  parts :  so  that  these  axioms,  however 
self-evident,  are  still  generalized  propositions,  and  so 
far  of  the  inductive  kind,  that,  independently  of  expe 
rience,  they  would  not  present  themselves  spontane 
ously  to  the  mind. 

The  pure  mathematics  being  based  on  definitions 
and  axioms,  as  premises,  all  its  truths  are  established 
by  processes  of  deductive  reasoning ;  hence,  it  is 
purely  a  deductive  science.  If  all  the  connections 
between  the  minor  and  major  premises  were  obvi 
ous  to  the  senses,  or  as  evident  as  the  truth,  "A 


122'  MR.    DAVIES'    ADDRESS. 

whole  is  equal  to  the  sum  of  all  its  parts,"  there 
would  be  no  necessity  for  trains  of  reasoning,  and 
deductive  science  would  not  exist.  Trains  of  rea 
soning  are  necessary  for  extending  the  definitions 
and  axioms  to  new  cases ;  and  there  is  no  logical 
test  of  truth,  in  the  whole  range  of  mathematical 
science,  except  in  the  conformity  of  the  conclusions 
to  the  definitions  and  axioms,  or  to  such  known  prin 
ciples  as  may  have  been  established  from  them. 

Language  is  a  collection  of  all  the  signs  of 
thought  by  means  of  which  we  express  our  ideas 
and  their  relations.  The  language  of  mathematics 
is  mixed.  It  is  composed  partly  of  symbols,  which 
have  a  precise  and  known  signification,  and  partly  of 
words  borrowed  from  our  common  language.  The 
symbols,  although  arbitrary  marks,  are,  nevertheless, 
entirely  general  in  their  signification,  as  signs  and 
instruments  of  thought,  and  when  the  sense  in  which 
they  are  used  is  once  fixed,  by  definition,  they  always 
retain  the  same  meaning  throughout  the  same  pro 
cess.  The  meaning  of  the  words  taken  from  our 
common  vocabulary  is  often  modified  and  sometimes 
entirely  changed,  when  transferred  to  the  language  of 
science.  They  are  then  used  in  a  particular  sense 
and  are  said  to  have  a  technical  signification. 

There  are  three  principal  forms,  or  dialects  of  the 


MR.    DAVIES'     ADDKESS.  123 

Mathematical  language  :  the  language  of  Number,  of 
which  the  elementary  symbols  are  the  ten  figures: 
the  language  of  Geometry,  of  which  the  elements 
are  the  right  line  and  the  curve ;  and  the  more 
comprehensive  language  of  Analysis,  in  which  the 
quantities  considered,  whether  numerical,  concrete, 
or  appertaining  to  space,  are  represented  by  letters 
of  the  alphabet.  These  three  forms  of  language  are 
the  basis  of  classification,  and  the  science  of  mathe 
matics  is  divided  into  three  corresponding  parts : 
Arithmetic,  Geometry,  and  Analysis. 

The  alphabet  of  the  Arithmetical  language  con 
tains  ten  characters,  called  figures,  each  of  which  has 
a  name,  and  when  standing  by  itself  indicates  as 
many  things  as  that  name  denotes.  There  are  but 
three  combinations  of  these  characters — the  first  is 
formed  by  writing  them  in  rows — the  second  by 
writing  some  of  them  over  or  under  others — and  the 
third,  by  means  of  the  decimal  point.  This  language, 
having  ten  elements  and  three  combinations,  is  more 
simple,  more  minute,  and  more  exact  than  any  other 
known  form  of  expressing  our  thoughts-  It  records 
all  the  daily  transactions  of  the  world,  involving 
number  and  quantity.  The  yearly  income — the  accu 
mulation  of  property — the  balance  sheets  of  mercan 
tile  enterprise  are  all  expressed  in  numbers,  and 
may  be  written  in  figures.  These  ten  little  charac- 


124  MR.     DAVIES'     ADDRESS. 

ters  are  not  only  the  sleepless  sentinels  of  trade  and 
commerce,  but  they  also  make  known  all  the  prac 
tical  results  of  scientific  labor. 

The  language  of  Geometry  is  pictorial,  and  has  but 
two  elements,  the  straight  line  and  curve.  The  com 
binations  of  these  simple  elements  give  every  form 
and  variety  of  the  geometrical  language.  Distance, 
surface,  volume  and  angle,  are  names  denoting  por 
tions  of  space.  Under  these  four  names  every  part 
of  space,  in  form,  extent  and  dimension,  is  represent 
ed  to  the  mind  by  means  of  the  straight  line  and 
curve.  This  language  is  both  simple  and  comprehen 
sive.  The  shortest  distance — the  curve  of  grace  and 
beauty — the  smooth  surface  and  the  rugged  bound 
ary  are  alike  amenable  to  its  laws.  It  presents  to  the 
mind,  through  the  eye,  the  forms  and  relative  mag 
nitudes  of  all  the  heavenly  bodies,  and,  also,  of  the 
most  minute  and  delicate  objects  that  are  revealed 
by  the  microscope.  It  is  the  connecting  link  between 
theoretical  and  practical  knowledge  in  the  mechanic 
arts,  and  the  only  language  in  which  science  speaks 
to  labor.  All  the  works  of  Architecture,  Sculpture 
and  Painting,  are  but  images  of  the  imagination  until 
they  assume  the  geometrical  forms. 

The  language  of  analysis  is  more  comprehensive 
than  the  language  of  figures  or  the  pictorial  lan 
guage  of  geometry ;  indeed,  it  embraces  them  both. 


MR.     DAVIES'     ADDRESS.  125 

Its  elements  are  the  leading  and  final  letters  of  the 
alphabet,  and  a  few  arbitrary  signs.  The  combi 
nations  of  these  elements  are  few  in  number  and 
simple  in  form;  and  from  these  humble  sources  are 
derived  the  fruitful  language  of  analytical  science. 
This  language  is  minute,  suggestive,  certain,  general 
and  comprehensive.  It  will  express  every  property 
and  relation  of  number — every  form  which  the  imagi 
nation  has  given  to  space — every  moment  of  time 
which  has  elapsed  since  hours  began  to  be  numbered 
— and  every  motion  which  has  taken  place  since  mat 
ter  began  to  move.  One  or  the  other  of  these  three 
forms  of  mathematical  language  is  in  daily  use  in 
every  part  of  the  world,  and  especially  so  in  every 
place  where  science  is  employed  to  guide  the  hand 
of  labor — to  investigate  the  laws  of  matter — or  to 
enlarge  the  boundaries  of  knowledge. 

Of  all  mysteries,  none  is  greater  than  the  mystery 
of  language.  The  invisible  essence  which  we  call 
mind,  holds  no  communion  with  other  minds,  except 
through  the  double  system  of  signs,  the  language  of 
the  eye  and  the  language  of  the  ear.  Destroy  the 
power  of  language,  and  the  lights  of  knowledge  would 
be  extinguished.  Man  would  live  only  in  the  pres 
ent.  The  past  and  the  future  would  be  equally  be 
yond  his  reach.  Through  language  we  look  back 
over  the  records  of  the  past,  and  trace  the  progress 


126  MR.     DAVIES'     ADDRESS. 

of  our  race  through  all  its  vicissitudes  and  changes 
from  the  very  cradle  of  Creation.  The  wisdom  of 
philosophy — the  power  of  eloquence — the  graces  of 
rhetoric  and  the  inspirations  of  poetry,  thus  become 
the  property  of  every  age  and  the  common  heritage 
of  mankind.  Scientific  language  reaches  even  over  a 
wider  field.  The  laws  of  the  material  world  are  the 
truths  which  it  records,  and  the  thoughts  of  God, 
manifested  in  all  the  works  of  the  visible  creation, 
are  the  treasures  of  its  literature. 

The  first  step  in  mental  training  is  to  furnish  the 
mind  with  clear  and  distinct  ideas,  with  settled 
names ;  each  idea  and  its  name  being  so  associated 
that  the  one  shall  always  suggest  the  other.  The 
ideas  which  make  up  our  knowledge  of  mathematics 
fulfill  exactly  these  requirements.  They  are  expressed 
in  a  fixed,  definite  and  certain  language,  which  in  all 
its  elementary  forms  may  be  illustrated  by  images 
or  pictures,  clear  and  distinct  in  their  outlines,  and 
having  names  which  suggest  at  once  their  character 
istics  and  properties. 

By  means  of  visible  representations  of  lines,  sur 
faces  and  volumes,  the  mind  contemplates  the  abstract, 
as  it  were,  with  a  thinking  eye.  Form,  figure,  dis 
tance,  space,  and  the  laws  relating  to  them,  are 
thus  rendered  familiar  through  the  visibility  of  picto- 


MK.    DAVIES'    ADDRESS. 


rial  representations.  This  pictorial  language  imparts 
a  deep  interest,  both  from  its  certainty  and  its  influ 
ence  on  the  imagination  —  it  attracts  and  animates 
the  minds  of  the  young,  and  gradually  prepares  them 
for  those  higher  abstractions  and  mental  efforts,  of 
which  they  are  at  first  incapable. 

Most  of  the  errors  and  conflicts  in  the  Schools  of 
Philosophy  have  arisen  from  the  double  or  incom 
plete  sense  in  which  words  are  employed.  The  terms 
are  all  defined  in  a  common  language,  but  there  is  no 
fixed  standard  beyond  the  language  itself.  Each 
term  is  viewed  from  a  different  stand  point,  and,  like 
the  rainbow  painted  on  the  clouds,  is  different  to  every 
spectator,  though  apparently  the  same. 

Mathematics  is  free  from  all  such  sources  of  mis 
take  and  error.  There  is  no  other  subject  of  knowl 
edge  in  which  there  is  that  exact  equivalency  be 
tween  the  thought  and  its  sign.  Number  and  Space, 
in  all  their  elementary  combinations,  may  be  present 
ed  to  the  mind  by  pictorial  representations.  The 
senses  are  thus  brought  to  the  aid  of  the  conceptive 
powers,  and  by  means  of  this  double  language,  the 
forms,  attributes  and  laws  of  magnitude,  are  explained 
and  verified. 

The  study  of  mathematics  accustoms  us  to  the 
strict  use  of  this  exact  and  copious  language,  in  which 
all  the  terms  are  exponents  of  distinct  crystallized 


128  MR.     DAVIES'     ADDRESS. 

ideas.  Using  these  terms  as  instruments  of  reason 
ing,  we  advance  with  a  steady  step,  secured  from 
the  sources  or  causes  of  error  which  are  concealed 
under  uncertain  or  conflicting  meanings. 

Knowledge  is  .a  clear  and  certain  conception  of 
that  which  is  true.  Its  elements  are  acquired  through 
the  medium  of  the  senses,  by  observation,  experiment 
and  experience ;  and  these  three  indicate  certain  rela 
tions  which  the  elements  bear  to  each  other,  and 
which  we  express  under  the  general  name  of  law. 
Law,  therefore,  is  a  term  of  generalization,  denoting 
an  order  of  sequence  in  phenomena,  whether  in  the 
material  or  spiritual,  the  animate  or  inanimate  world. 
This  order  and  connection  are  not  obvious  to  the 
senses.  They  are  the  hidden  treasures  of  knowledge, 
and  are  only  discovered  and  brought  to  light  by  the 
highest  exercise  of  the  reasoning  faculty. 

Since  the  time  of  Aristotle,  the  exact  law  which 
governs  the  reasoning  faculty  has  been  well  known. 
By  careful  analysis  and  a  profound  generalization,  he 
subjected  every  principle  of  deductive  reasoning  to  a 
single  law,  expressed  by  the  dictum,  and  indicated 
every  operation  of  that  law  in  the  syllogism.  The 
system  was  yet  incomplete.  The  major  premise,  on 
which  the  whole  fabric  rested,  was  assumed,  not 
proved.  Bacon  supplied  this  deficiency,  in  showing 
that  all  our  knowledge  rests,  ultimately,  on  the 


MR.    DAVIES1    ADDRESS.  129 

hypothesis  of  the  uniform  operation  of  the  laws  of 
nature,  and  that  such  uniformity  may  be  inferred  by 
the  reasoning  faculty,  from  a  collection  and  compari 
son  of  facts,  furnished  by  observation,  experiment 
and  experience.  This  completed  the  golden  circle  of 
logic,  and  subjected  all  the  laws  of  nature  to  the 
processes  of  science. 

It  becomes,  therefore,  an  important  inquiry  how 
far  the  study  of  mathematics  is  a  means,  in  the  cul 
tivation  of  the  reasoning  faculties,  through  which  we 
derive  our  scientific  knowledge — how  far  it  is  a  use 
ful  gymnastic  of  the  mind — what  mental  habits  it 
inculcates,  and  what  developments  it  produces.  We 
have  already  adverted  to  its  clear,  precise,  and  com 
prehensive  language,  and  to  the  elementary  ideas, 
which  that  language  impresses  on  the  mind.  Are 
these  ideas  isolated — incapable  of  classification  and 
wanting  in  the  attributes  necessary  to  a  logical 
arrangement  ? 

It  is  the  chief  excellence  of  mathematical  science, 
regarded  as  a  means  of  mental  training,  that  the 
definitions  and  axioms  are  the  prolific  sources  of 
every  deduction.  They  are  the  ultimate  premises 
to  which  every  principle  can  be  referred,  and  the 
law  of  connection  which  binds  together  all  the  truths 
of  this  complex  system,  is  the  simple  law  of  the 
syllogism. 


130  MR.    DAVIES'     ADDRESS. 

Matliematical  reasoning,  so  far  as  the  logic  is  con 
cerned,  is  precisely  the  same  as  any  other  kind  of 
reasoning.  It  differs  from  other  methods  only  in  the 
greater  preciseness  of  its  language,  the  nature  of  the 
subject  and  the  more  obvious  relations  of  the  pre 
mises  to  each  other,  and  to  the  conclusion.  It  has 
been  urged  that  these  differences  are  detrimental, 
rather  than  useful,  in  the  development  of  the  rea 
soning  faculty — that  the  exact  equivalency  between 
the  idea  and  the  language,  the  fixed  and  obvious 
relation  of  the  premises  to  each  other  and  to  the 
conclusion,  leave  no  scope  for  originality  in  the 
mental  processes,  and  that  truth  is  thus  evolved 
mechanically,  rather  than  intellectually.  Another 
objection  has  also  been  found,  in  the  fact  that  the 
matter  in  the  mathematical  processes  is  certain, 
while  in  all  other  cases  it  is  contingent — and  that  to 
deal  with  what  is  certain,  in  accordance  with  obvious 
and  fixed  laws,  disqualifies  the  mind  to  deal  with 
what  is  probable  according  to  laws  less  obvious  and 
rigorous. 

In  regard  to  the  second  objection,  it  is  quite  cer 
tain  that  the  degree  of  probability,  in  any  given 
case,  can  only  be  determined  by  comparing  what  is 
contingent  with  what  is  certain — certainty  being 
assumed  as  the  standard — all  inferences  are  relied 
upon  as  they  approach  this  standard,  and  distrusted 


MR.     DAVIES'     ADDKESS.  131 

as  they  recede  from  it.  Hence,  in  all  systems  of 
intellectual  training,  having  in  view  the  cultivation 
of  the  reasoning  faculty,  the  mind  should  be  accus 
tomed  to  contemplate  that  which  is  certain,  in  order 
that  it  may  form  a  true  estimate  of  that  which  is 
contingent  or  probable. 

How  far  the  laws  which  regulate  and  control  the 
processes  of  mathematical  reasoning  are  merely  me 
chanical,  and  how  far  their  study  and  contemplation 
confine  the  mind  to  a  mere  routine,  is  best  answered 
by  a  careful  and  searching  analysis.  The  processes 
\T  begin  with  obvious  and  elementary  truths,  defined 
by  a  precise  language,  and  aided,  if  need  be,  by 
pictorial  representations.  They  then  advance  step 
by  step  in  a  series  of  regular  and  dependent  grada 
tions,  developing  the  concealed  and  sublime  proper 
ties  of  number  and  space.  These  trains  of  demon 
strative  reasoning  produce  the  most  certain  knowl 
edge  of  which  the  mind  is  capable.  They  establish 
truth  so  clearly  that  none  can  deny  or  doubt.  The 
premises  are  not  only  certain,  but  the  most  obvious 
truths  which  can  be  presented  to  the  mind,  and  the 
conclusions  result  from  the  most  palpable  relations 
of  the  premises  to  each  other.  What  discipline  can 
better  train  the  mind  to  diligence  in  study — to  close 
and  continuous  attention — to  habits  of  abstraction — 
and  to  a  true  logical  development  ? 


132  MR.    DA  VIES7    ADDEESS. 

A  wide  distinction  must  be  made  between  those 
processes  of  mathematics  which  are  merely  mechanical 
and  that  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  the  science  which 
develops  and  applies  those  processes.  The  calculating 
machine  is  a  mere  instrument,  but  the  discovery  and 
application  of  the  laws  of  its  construction  are  among 
the  highest  efforts  of  genius.  If  the  machine  were 
dashed  to  pieces,  it  could  be  remodeled,  for  the  law 
of  its  construction  is  known.  The  conception,  there 
fore,  is  not  mechanical  because  it  is  manifested  by 
mechanical  agencies.  Descartes  brought  all  space 
within  the  range  and  power  of  analysis,  by  new 
methods  of  representing  lines  and  surfaces.  Newton's 
sublime  conception  of  the  law  of  universal  gravita 
tion  is  developed  in  the  language  of  Geometry. 
Does  it  follow,  because  the  processes  of  Geometry 
and  the  rules  for  solving  equations  are  reduced  to 
fixed  principles  and  settled  methods,  that  the  ubjects 
to  which  they  may  be  applied  are  limited  in  their 
nature  ?  or>  that  the  contemplation  of  these  subjects, 
through  this,  the  only  language  in  which  they  can  be 
presented  to  the  mind,  is  likely  to  give  a  contracted 
or  one-sided  development  ? 

Mathematical  Science  deals  with  Number,  Space, 
Time  and  Motion.  Each  is  a  type  of  the  Creator,  in 
finite  in  itself,  and  all  are  under  the  dominion  of 
universal  laws.  In  the  development  of  these  laws,  in 


MB.    DAVIES'    ADDKESS.  133 

a  language  free  from  obscurity,  and  in  a  logic  above 
the  influence  of  passion,  sophistry  and  prejudice,  the 
mind  acquires  an  intensity  and  ardor  which  lift  it 
above  the  strife  and  petty  controversies  of  earth,  into 
the  sphere  of  the  intellectual  and  absolute.  A  theo 
rem  demonstrated  is  an  indestructible  truth ;  but  this 
is  not  all,  it  is  connected  with  antecedent  truths  of 
the  same  kind,  and  is  also  a  guaranty  of  our  success 
in  new  efforts  to  enlarge  the  boundaries  of  knowledge. 
In  the  construction  of  the  mathematical  science, 
we  begin  with  the  axiom  and  proceed  from  propo 
sition  to  proposition,  under  the  guidance  of  a  rigor 
ous  logic,  till  we  reach  the  boundaries  of  that 
intellectual  region  which  has  been  already  explored. 
Here  we  pause,  but  do  not  stop ;  for  beyond  are 
hidden  truths  which  excite  our  innate  desire  to 
know,  and  an  ambition  and  hope  of  progress.  So, 
when  we  stretch  out  the  mathematics  to  explain  and 
embrace  the  philosophy  of  the  heavens,  we  proceed 
from  our  own  planet,  in  regular  gradations,  till  we 
reach  the  remotest  orb  of  our  system.  Still  further 
on,  we  enter  the  region  of  Arcturus,  Orion,  the 
Pleiades  and  the  Milky  Way  ;  and,  even  beyond  the 
smallest  star  whose  light  has  reached  the  earth,  is 
unmeasured  space,  yet  perhaps  to  be  surveyed  by 
more  perfect  instruments,  and  measured  by  the 
known  laws  of  mathematical  science. 


134  ME.    DA  VIES'    ADDEESS. 

"  There  is  good  room  to  ask  whether  the  peculiar 
energy  of  what  might  be  called  the  mathematical  soul 
does  not  carry  with  it  a  deep  meaning,  and  declare 
the  truth  of  man's  destination  at  the  first,  and  of  his 
destiny  still  to  take  a  place  and  to  act  a  part  in  a 
world  of  manifested  truth  and  eternal  order.  Do  we 
venture  too  far  in  saying  that,  when  mathematical 
abstractions  of  the  higher  sort  take  possession  of  a 
vigorous  reason,  there  is  placed  before  us  a  tacit  re 
cognition  (one  among  several,  all  carrying  the  same 
meaning,)  of  the  fact  that  the  human  mind  is  so 
framed  as  to  find  its  home  nowhere  but  in  a  sphere 
within  which  the  absolute  and  the  unchangeable 
shall  stand  revealed  in  the  view  of  the  finite  intel 
ligence  ?"* 

The  term  "  practical,"  in  its  common  acceptation, 
often  denotes  shorter  methods  of  obtaining  results 
than  are  indicated  by  science.  It  implies  a  substitu 
tion  of  natural  sagacity  and  "  mother  wit"  for  the 
results  of  hard  study  and  laborious  effort.  It  implies 
the  use  of  knowledge  before  it  is  acquired — the  sub 
stitution  of  the  results  of  mere  experiment  for  the 
deductions  of  science,  and  the  placing  of  empiricism 
above  philosophy.  But  give  to  "  practical"  its  true 
and  right  signification,  and  it  becomes  a  word  of  real 

*  Isaac  Taylor. 


MR.    DAVIES'    ADDRESS.  135 

import  and  definite  value.  In  its  right  sense,  it  de 
notes  the  best  means  of  making  the  true  ideal  the 
actual:  that  is,  of  applying  the  principles  of  science  in 
all  the  practical  business  of  life,  and  of  bodying  forth 
in  material  form  the  conceptions  of  taste  and  genius. 

Beyond  the  obvious  application  of  simple  and 
known  principles,  the  whole  problem  of  the  practical 
lies  in  the  measurement,  modification  and  best  uses  of 
the  forces  of  nature.  In  all  the  uses  and  applications 
of  these  forces,  material  substances  are  employed, 
and  these  must  be  fashioned  according  to  certain 
forms  indicated  by  scientific  formulas.  These  formu 
las  are  constructed  from  the  laws  which  regulate  the 
cohesion  of  the  particles  of  the  substance  employed — 
the  nature  of  the  force  to  be  applied — the  amount  of 
that  force  and  the  ultimate  end  to  be  attained.  All 
these  fixed  laws  of  force — all  their  combinations — 
and  all  the  forms  of  the  materials  employed  in  using 
them  for  practical  purposes,  can  only  be  reached 
through  the  processes  and  language  of  mathematics. 

Machines  and  workshops  afford  marked  illustra 
tions  of  the  utility  and  value  of  mathematical  science, 
and,  in  their  resolution  of  difficult  practical  problems, 
furnish  a  striking  exhibition  of  the  power  of  mind 
over  matter.  Any  one,  introduced  for  the  first  time 
to  the  interior  of  one  of  our  great  factories,  would 
doubtless  regard  with  no  small  perplexity  the  equip- 


136  ME.     DAVIES'     ADDEESS. 

ment  and  play  of  so  many  variously  directed  instru 
ments  of  motion — the  great  size  and  extent  of  the 
whole  structure — the  jar  which  startles  at  first,  but 
by  the  steadiness  of  its  pulsations  soon  persuades  you 
to  take  the  cadence  and  measure  of  the  great  machine, 
and  to  appropriate,  as  it  were,  a  share  of  the  produ 
cing  power — and  it  would  be  strange  if  you  were  not 
also  persuaded  that  all  this  bewildering  procession 
of  complex  returning  movements  must  be  under  the 
guidance  of  some  great  scientific  law. 

All  the  parts  of  that  complicated  machinery  are 
adjusted  to  each  other,  and  were  indeed  so  arranged, 
according  to  a  given  plan,  before  a  single  wheel  was 
formed  by  the  hand  of  the  forger.  The  power  neces 
sary  to  do  the  entire  work  was  first  carefully  cal 
culated,  and  then  distributed  throughout  the  ramifi 
cations  of  the  machinery.  Each  part  was  so  arranged 
as  to  fulfill  its  office.  Every  circumference  and  band 
and  cog,  has  its  specific  duty  assigned  to  it.  They 
are  connecting  parts  of  an  entire  practical  scientific 
system,  over  which  one  of  the  parts,  fitly  called  the 
governor,  is  most  ingeniously  appointed  to  preside. 
It  is  the  function  of  this  apt  and  beautiful  contrivance 
to  regulate  the  force  which  shall  drive  the  whole,  ac 
cording  to  a  uniform  speed;  and  it  performs  the 
office  with  such  sensibility  and  seeming  intelligence, 
that,  on  the  slightest  increase  of  velocity,  it  com- 


MR,    DAVIES'    ADDRESS. 


mences  and  executes,  with  easy  gradations,  a  diminu 
tion  of  the  moving  force  of  the  machine,  and  as  in 
stinctively  calls  up  additional  power  the  moment  that 
the  speed  slackens.  All  this  is  the  result  of  calcula 
tion.  When  the  curious  shall  visit  these  exhibitions 
of  ingenuity  and  skill,  let  them  not  suppose  that 
they  are  the  offspring  of  chance  and  experiment. 
They  are  the  embodiment,  by  intelligent  labor,  of 
the  results  of  the  most  difficult  investigations  of 
science. 

The  Steamship  affords  another  impressive  illustra 
tion  of  theoretical  and  practical  science.  Observe 
her  form  —  how  perfect  in  all  its  parts  —  how  beauti 
ful  in  outline  —  how  exact  in  proportion.  See  how 
gracefully  she  rests  upon  the  water,  which  she 
scarcely  seems  to  touch.  On  the  upper  deck,  the 
masts  and  ropes,  the  yards,  the  spars,  the  booms 
and  sails,  are  all  adjusted  to  the  proper  angle  and 
are  the  instruments  by  which  the  power  of  the  wind 
is  pressed  into  the  service  of  commerce.  But  this 
is  not  the  power  on  which  she  relies.  The  great 
mechanical  contrivance,  to  which  I  have  alluded, 
which  just  now  shook  the  earth  with  its  jar,  is  to  be 
readjusted  and  folded  within  a  structure  having  its 
own  peculiar  form  and  limits,  designed  for  special 
functions  and  moving  on  a  new  element.  The  source 
of  power  is  a  simple  change  in  the  form  of  a  fluid. 


138  MR.    DAVIES7     ADDRESS. 

The  massive  cylinders,  the  huge  levers,  the  lifting 
and  closing  valves  are  contrivances  to  convey  this 
power  to  the  water  wheels,  where  the  resistance  of 
the  water,  according  to  known  laws,  transfers  it  to 
the  ship  itself. 

Over  all  this  complication  of  machinery — over  all 
this  variety  of  principle  and  workmanship,  science 
has  waved  her  magic  wand.  There  is  not  a  cylinder 
whose  dimensions  were  not  measured — not  a  lever 
whose  power  was  not  calculated,  nor  a  valve  which 
does  not  open  and  shut  at  the  appointed  moment. 
There  is  not,  in  all  this  structure,  a  bolt,  a  screw,  or 
rod  which  was  not  provided  for  before  the  great 
shaft  was  forged,  and  which  does  not  bear  to  that 
shaft  a  proper  proportion. 

The  language  of  Geometry  and  Number  furnished 
the  architect  with  all  the  signs  and  instruments  of 
thought  necessary  to  a  perfect  ideal  of  his  work, 
before  he  took  the  first  step  in  its  execution.  It  also 
enabled  him,  by  drawings  and  figures,  so  to  direct 
the  hand  of  labor  as  to  form  the  actual  after  its 
pattern — the  ideal.  The  various  parts  may  be  con 
structed  by  different  mechanics,  at  different  places, 
but  the  law  of  science  is  so  certain  that  every  part 
will  have  its  right  dimensions,  and  when  all  are 
put  together  they  form  a  perfect  whole. 

When  the  work  is  done  and  the  ship  takes  her 


MB.     DAVIES'     ADDRESS.  139 

departure  for  another  continent,  a  small  piece  of  iron, 
a  few  inches  in  length,  poised  on  its  centre,  under 
the  influence  of  a  known  force,  is  the  little  pilot 
which  guides  her  over  trackless  waters.  Science  has 
also  provided,  for  daily  use,  maps  and  charts  of  the 
port  which  she  leaves,  of  the  ocean  to  be  traversed 
and  of  the  coasts  and  harbors  which  are  to  be  visited. 
On  these  are  marked  the  results  of  much  careful 
labor.  The  shoals,  the  channels,  the  points  of 
danger  and  the  places  of  security,  are  all  indicated. 
Near  by  hangs  the  Barometer,  constructed  from 
mathematical  formulas,  to  indicate  changes  in  the 
weight  of  the  atmosphere  and  give  warning  of 
the  approaching  tempest.  In  close  proximity  are 
the  Sextant  and  the  Tables  of  Bowditch.  These  are 
the  simple  contrivances  which  science  has  furnished 
to  correct  the  errors  of  the  needle,  by  observations 
on  the  heavenly  bodies,  and  to  determine  the  exact 
position  of  the  vessel  at  any  moment  of  the  voy 
age.  Thus,  practical  science,  which  determined  the 
form  of  the  vessel  best  adapted  to  a  given  velocity, 
which  measured  and  distributed  the  propelling  force 
and  which  guided  the  hand  of  the  mechanic  in 
every  workshop,  is,  under  Providence,  the  means 
of  conducting  her  in  safety  over  the  ocean.  It  is, 
indeed,  the  cloud  by  day  and  the  pillar  of  fire  by 
night. 


140  MR.    DAVIES'    ADDRESS. 

The  construction  of  railways  is  a  recent  and  most 
important  application  of  science.  The  mechanic  arts, 
commerce  and  civilization  have  all  received  an  im 
pulse  in  this  new  development  of  power.  The 
chariots  of  commerce,  which  rush  with  such  dizzying 
velocity  over  the  iron  bands  which  now  nearly  en 
circle  the  globe,  are  all  guided  by  immutable  laws 
that  have  been  carefully  developed  by  the  aid  of 
diagrams  and  equations.  When  you  see  the  long 
train,  with  its  locomotive,  ascending  the  mountain, 
fear  not,  for  science  traced  the  curve  and  balanced 
the  forces.  When  the  mountain  is  to  be  pierced 
instead  of  being  scaled,  a  few  lines  drawn  on  paper 
indicate  the  precise  points,  at  the  opposite  extremi 
ties,  where  the  work  is  to  be  begun  ;  and  after  years 
of  labor  the  two  working  parties  meet  near  the 
centre,  and  in  the  exact  line  established  before  the 
ground  was  broken. 

In  every  case  where  power  is  employed,  either  to 
produce  motion  or  to  maintain  a  state  of  rest,  the 
mechanical  principle  of  force  and  resistance  must  be 
considered  and  discussed.  Mathematics  is  the  only 
form  of  language  which  connects  science  with  all  the 
mechanic  arts  and  guides  the  hand  of  labor  as  it 
bodies  forth  the  conceptions  of  the  mind.  It  is, 
therefore,  the  only  true  basis  of  the  practical ;  and 
perhaps  it  is  not  too  much  to  add,  that  whatever  is 


MR.     DAVIES'    ADDRESS.  141 

true  and  just  in  the  practical  is  the  actual  of  an 
antecedent  ideal. 

Material  objects  are  the  first  things  which  attract 
our  notice.  We  behold  the  earth  filled  with  products 
and  teeming  with  life.  We  note  the  return  of  day 
and  night  at  regular  intervals — the  coming  of  sum 
mer  and  winter,  and  the  succession  of  heat  and  cold. 
We  see  the  sun  in  the  firmament — we  turn  our  eyes 
to  the  starry  heavens  and  behold  the  sentinels  of 
night  as  they  look  down  upon  us.  Facts,  often 
observed,  suggest  the  idea  of  causes — and,  when 
science  scatters  her  light  over  the  pathway  of  the 
past  and  the  future,  we  learn  the  existence  of  gen 
eral  laws  imparted  by  the  fiat  of  Him  who  created 
all  things — and  come  to  understand  that  mind  in  all 
its  attributes,  and  matter  in  all  its  forms,  are  subject 
to  those  laws — and  that  their  study  is  the  noblest 
employment  of  our  intellectual  nature. 

To  the  uneducated  man,  all  the  world  is  a  mystery. 
He  does  not  see  how  so  great  a  uniformity  can  exist 
with  the  infinite  variety  which  pervades  every  depart 
ment  of  nature,  animate  and  inanimate.  In  the  ani 
mal  kingdom  no  two  of  a  species  are  exactly  alike ; 
and  yet  the  general  resemblance  and  conformity  are 
so  close  that  the  Naturalist,  from  the  examination  of 
a  single  bone,  finds  no  difficulty  in  determining  the 


142  MR.     DA  VIES7    ADDEESS. 

species,  size  and  structure  of  the  animal.  So,  also, 
in  the  vegetable  and  mineral  kingdoms,  where  all 
the  structures  of  growth  and  formation,  though  infi 
nitely  varied,  are  yet  conformable  to  like  general 
laws. 

The  wonderful  mechanism  displayed  in  the  struc 
ture  of  animals  was  but  imperfectly  understood,  un 
til  analyzed  and  illustrated  by  the  principles  of 
science.  Then,  a  general  law,  applicable  to  every  case 
involving  power  and  motion,  was  found  to  pervade 
the  whole.  Every  bone  is  proved  to  be  of  that 
length  and  diameter  best  adapted  to  its  use — every 
muscle  is  inserted  at  the  right  point,  and  works  about 
the  right  centre — the  feathers  of  every  bird  are 
shaped  in  the  best  form,  and  the  curves  in  which  they 
cleave  the  air  are  the  best  adapted  to  velocity.  It  is 
demonstrated,  that  in  every  case,  and  in  all  the  vari 
eties  of  form,  in  which  forces  are  applied,  either  to 
increase  power  or  gain  velocity,  general  laws  have 
been  established  to  produce  the  desired  results.  Thus 
science  makes  known  to  us  the  foreknowledge  and 
wisdom  of  the  Creator. 

But  inanimate  nature  also  speaks  to  us  in  the  lan 
guage  of  general  laws,  and  it  is  in  the  investigation 
and  interpretation  of  these  laws  that  mathematical 
science  finds  its  widest  range  and  its  most  striking 
applications.  Experience,  aided  by  observation  and 


MR.    DAVIES'    ADDRESS.  143 

enlightened  by  experiment,  is  the  recognized  fountain 
of  all  knowledge  of  nature.  On  this  foundation  Bacon 
rested  his  philosophy.  He  saw  that  the  deductive 
process  of  Aristotle,  in  which  the  conclusion  does  not 
reach  beyond  the  premises,  was  not  progressive.  It 
might,  indeed,  improve  the  reasoning  process,  culti 
vate  habits  of  nice  discrimination  and  give  great  pro 
ficiency  in  verbal  dialectics;  but  the  basis  was  too 
narrow  for  that  expansive  philosophy  which  was  to 
unfold  and  harmonize  all  the  laws  of  nature.  Hence, 
he  suggested  a  careful  examination  of  nature  in  every 
department,  and  thus  laid  the  foundations  of  a  new 
philosophy.  Nature  was  to  be  interrogated  by  ex 
periment  ;  observation  was  to  note  the  results  and 
gather  the  facts  into  the  store-house  of  knowledge. 
Facts,  so  obtained,  were  subjected  to  analysis  and 
collation,  and  from  such  classification  general  laws 
were  inferred,  by  a  reasoning  process  called  Induc 
tion. 

This  new  philosophy  gave  a  startling  impulse  to 
the  mind,  and  to  knowledge.  Its  subject  was  nature 
— material  and  immaterial ;  its  object,  the  discovery 
and  analysis  of  those  general  laws  which  pervade, 
regulate  and  impart  uniformity  to  all  things ;  its 
processes,  experience,  experiment  and  observation  for 
the  ascertainment  of  facts,  analysis  and  comparison 
for  their  classification,  and  the  reasoning  process  for 


144  MR.    DAVIES'     ADDRESS. 

the  establishment  of  general  laws.  But  the  work 
would  have  been  incomplete  without  the  aid  of 
deductive  Science.  General  laws,  deduced  from  many 
separate  cases,  by  induction,  needed  additional  proof; 
for  they  might  have  been  inferred  from  resemblances 
too  slight,  or  from  coincidences  too  few.  Mathematics 
affords  such  proofs. 

Every  branch  of  natural  philosophy  was  originally 
experimental ;  each  generalization  rested  on  a  special 
induction,  and  was  derived  from  its  own  distinct  set 
of  observations  and  experiments.  From  being  sciences 
of  pure  experiment,  or  sciences  in  which  the  reason 
ings  consist  of  no  more  than  one  step,  and  that  step 
an  induction,  all  these  sciences  have  become,  to  some 
extent,  and  some  of  them  in  nearly  their  whole 
extent,  sciences  of  pure  reasoning :  thus,  multitudes 
of  truths,  already  known  by  induction,  from  as  many 
different  sets  of  experiments,  have  come  to  be  exhib 
ited  as  deductions,  or  corollaries  from  inductive  pro 
positions  of  a  simple  and  more  universal  character. 
Thus,  Mechanics,  Acoustics,  Optics  and  Chemistry, 
have  successively  been  rendered  mathematical :  and 
Astronomy  was  brought  by  Newton  within  the  laws 
of  general  mechanics. 

The  substitution  of  this  circuitous  mode  of  pro 
ceeding,  for  a  process  apparently  much  easier  and 
more  natural,  is  held,  and  justly  too,  to  be  the  great- 


ME.     DAVIES'     ABDEESS.  145 

est  triumph  in  the  investigation  of  nature.  But  it  is 
necessary  to  remark  that  although,  by  this  progressive 
transformation,  all  sciences  tend  to  become  more  and 
more  deductive,  they  are  not,  therefore,  the  less  in 
ductive:  for  every  step  in  the  deduction  rests  on 
antecedent  induction.* 

We  can  now,  therefore,  perceive  what  is  the  gen 
eric  distinction  between  sciences  which  can  be  made 
deductive,  and  those  which  must,  as  yet,  remain 
experimental.  The  difference  consists  in  our  having 
been  able,  in  the  first  case,  and  not  in  the  second,  to 
establish  a  set  of  first  inductions,  from  which,  as  from 
a  general  law,  we  are  able  to  draw  a  series  of  con 
nected  and  dependent  truths.  For  example,  when 
Newton,  by  observing  and  comparing  the  motions 
of  several  of  the  bodies  of  the  solar  system,  discov 
ered  that  each,  whether  its  motions  were  regular 
or  apparently  anomalous,  conformed  to  the  law  of 
moving  around  a  common  centre,  urged  by  a  centri 
petal  force,  varying  directly  as  the  mass  and  inversely 
as  the  square  of  the  distance,  he  inferred  the  exist 
ence  of  the  law  for  all  bodies ;  and  then  demonstra 
ted,,  by  the  aid  of  mathematics,  that  no  other  law 
could  produce  such  motions.  This  is  the  most  strik 
ing  example  which  has  yet  occurred  of  the  transform 
ation,  at  a  single  stroke,  of  a  science,  which  was  in 

*  Mill's  Logic. 
10 


146  MR.     DAVIES'     ADDRESS. 

a  great  degree  experimental,  into  one  purely  deduct 
ive. 

It  is  in  the  great  problem  of  the  solar  system  that- 
mathematical  science  displays  its  omnipotent  power. 
The  sun  himself,  manifesting  his  inexpressible  glory 
by  the  floods  of  golden  light  which  he  scatters 
through  the  immensity  of  space,  is  yet  subjected  to 
the  analytical  formula,  and  must  confess  to  it,  from 
his  more  than  imperial  throne — his  exact  dimensions 
— his  weight  and  balancing  power,  and  his  relative 
importance  when  compared  with  the  smallest  mote 
which  his  own  light  has  revealed.  It  is  thus  that 
the  intellectual  power,  aided  and  stimulated  by  the 
processes  of  mathematical  science,  has  been  able  to 
trace  backwards,  to  the  earliest  past,  all  the  motions 
of  the  heavenly  bodies  and  to  bring  the  remotest 
future  of  the  planetary  system  within  the  range  of 
its  computations.  It  is  thus  that  man,  inhabiting 
one  of  the  smallest  planets  of  the  system,  computes 
the  celestial  cycles  and  determines  all  the  laws  of  the 
movement  of  the  celestial  machinery. 

He  has  done  even  more  than  this.  Those  vagrant 
bodies  of  the  heavens  which  occasionally  visit  our 
system,  and  which  seem  to  have  escaped  from  their 
own  spheres  and  to  wander  heedlessly  through  space, 
are  yet  subjected  to  the  power  of  analysis.  A  few 
observations,  made  by  the  practical  astronomer,  afford 


MK.     DA  VIES'     ADDRESS.  147 

the  necessary  elements  for  computing  the  forms  of 
their  orbits  and  their  periodic  times ;  and  in  distant 
years,  at  the  indicated  moment,  the  comet  again 
blazes  in  the  sky!  In  short,  before  this  august  power 
all  nature  yields  up  the  mystery  of  her  laws.  If, 
then,  we  would  enter  her  spacious  temple,  and  seek 
after  the  knowledge  which  is  there,  let  us  not  forget 
the  Aladdin's  lamp  of  mathematical  science,  which, 
being  properly  touched,  will  disclose  more  treasures 
than  have  ever  been  described  in  Eastern  fable. 

The  place  which  mathematics  should  occupy  in  a 
system  of  collegiate  instruction  is  an  inquiry  of  the 
gravest  import,  and  necessarily  involves  the  question, 
What  should  be  the  nature  of  the  system  itself? 

It  was  stated,  in  the  opening  address,  on  the  highest 
authority,  "  that  the  end  of  a  liberal  education  is  the 
general  and  harmonious  evolution  of  all  the  faculties 
and  capacities  of  the  mind  in  their  relative  subor 
dination."  It  is  not  the  base,  nor  the  massive  shaft, 
nor  the  beautiful  forms  of  the  capital,  which  fill  the 
mind  as  we  gaze  on  the  Corinthian  column ;  but  it  is 
their  unity  and  the  general  effect  of  their  combina 
tion.  It  is  the  whole  mind,  in  all  its  intellectual  and 
emotional  faculties,  to  which  the  experienced  educator 
addresses  himself. 

So  far  as  our  knowledge  extends,  we  have  found 


148  MR.     DAVIES'     ADDRESS. 

in  tliat  mysterious  essence,  the  mind,  a  faculty  adapt 
ed  to  the  apprehension  of  every  law,  and  an  emo 
tion  corresponding  to  the  contemplation  of  every 
object.  May  not  the  reverse  of  this  proposition 
be  true  ?  May  it  not  be,  that  for  every  faculty 
of  the  mind,  whether  intellectual  or  emotional,  there 
exists,  somewhere,  a  proper  object  of  contemplation? 
and  that  the  perfection  of  our  knowledge  and  being 
will  be  attained  when  all  such  objects  are  found  ?  It 
is  in  accordance  with  this  law  that  different  studies 
cultivate  different  powers  of  the  mind,  and  that  it 
requires  the  study  of  many  subjects  to  give  a  general 
and  harmonious  evolution  of  all  its  faculties.  Mathe 
matics  does  not  equally  cultivate  every  faculty — it  is 
the  massive  trunk  and  outward  form,  but  language, 
literature,  and  moral  culture,  are  the  sap  which  ascends 
within,  and  which  is  necessary  to  give  beauty  to  the 
foliage  and  health  and  harmony  to  the  whole  devel 
opment.  All  the  colors  of  the  rainbow,  which  are 
painted  on  the  clouds,  are  necessary  to  the  perfect 
light  of  day — so  every  light  of  knowledge  is  required 
in  the  perfect  illumination  of  the  mind. 

It  is  the  special  function  of  mathematical  studies, 
to  cultivate  the  faculty  of  abstraction  and  the  habit 
of  intense  and  continued  attention — to  establish  in 
the  mind  a  self-centering  power  that  shall  subordinate 
all  the  intellectual  faculties  to  the  control  of  the  will 


MR.     DA  VIES'     ADDRESS.  149 

— to  create,  as  it  were,  a  governor  of  the  intellectual 
machinery,  that  will  give  harmony  and  uniformity 
to  all  its  motions.  As  an  elementary  formula  of 
logic,  it  is  the  most  simple  and  perfect.  As  a  drill, 
in  the  structure  and  use  of  language,  in  its  primary 
forms,  no  exercise  insures  greater  precision  in  the  use 
of  words,  or  imparts  to  the  mind  as  certain  rela 
tions  between  the  signs  and  the  things  signified.  In 
its  higher  branches,  it  is  even  an  aid  in  the  study  of 
theology  ;  for  it  constantly  raises  the  mind  to  the  con 
templation  of  the  Unchangeable  and  the  Infinite. 
Mathematics,  therefore,  is  an  aid  and  auxiliary  in 
every  other  branch  of  study.  It  may  be  pursued 
too  exclusively — the  mind  may  become  too  much 
absorbed  by  its  machinery  and  formulas ;  but  this 
danger  is  common  to  the  study  of  every  other  sub 
ject.  A  life  spent  exclusively  on  the  Greek  Gram 
mar  would  not  make  a  Greek  scholar ;  nor  can  the 
wide  field  of  deductive  reasoning  be  explored  by 
repeating  the  formulas  of  the  dictum  and  syllogism. 

Concurring  fully  in  what  was  said,  in  the  opening 
address,  concerning  the  great  value  of  the  study  of 
the  Greek  and  Latin  languages,  and  also  in  the 
merited  eulogium  of  the  manner  in  which  these  lan 
guages  are  taught  in  this  institution,  I  may  yet  be 
permitted  to  say,  that  there  is  another  language  far 
more  comprehensive  than  either  or  both  of  them : 


150  MR.     DA  VIES7     ADDKESS. 

the  language  of  mathematics,  which  embraces  within 
its  ample  folds  all  the  laws  of  the  material  universe. 
This  language  takes  us  back  to  the  birth  of  matter, 
and  measures  and  records  every  step  which  each 
planet  has  taken  since  it  began  to  move.  Yea,  more : 
it  is  prophetic — it  reveals  all  future  motions,  and 
indicates  the  precise  places  which  all  matter  must 
occupy,  at  any  given  instant  of  future  time. 

This  is  the  language  in  which  the  practical  astrono 
mer  studies  the  heavens.  It  is  the  telegraphic  wire 
which  has  enabled  him  to  communicate  with  every 
planet  of  our  system — to  measure  its  diameter,  its 
specific  gravity,  the  dimensions  of  its  orbit,  its  times 
of  revolution  and  its  balancing  power  in  the  system 
of  the  universe.  It  is  this  language  which  has  ena 
bled  him  to  bring  the  ring  of  Saturn  into  his  own 
study,  where  he  sees  it  face  to  face,  and,  as  it  were, 
touches  the  very  particles  of  matter  of  which  it  is 
composed. 

This  language  has  enabled  the  naturalist  to  trace 
the  dominion  of  law  over  all  matter  endowed  with 
life.  The  contemplation  of  the  minute  objects  of 
creation  may  appear,  at  first  sight,  unworthy  the 
labors  of  the  highest  genius — but  it  is  quite  otherwise. 
The  turtle's  egg,  the  little  gnat  whose  tiny  wings  vi 
brate  five  hundred  times  in  a  second,  and  the  entire 
solar  system,  are  each  an  embodiment  of  a  thought 


ME.     DA  VIES'     ADDRESS.  151 

of  God.  Whether  we  look  through  the  microscope 
or  the  telescope,  we  are  equally  instructed  iu  the 
wonders  of  creative  power  and  universal  law. 

But  science  is  not  all  in  all.  It  does  not  compass 
the  final  aim  and  ultimate  end  of  our  being.  Though 
it  reaches  back  to  the  time  when  God  said  "Let 
there  be  light  and  there  was  light,"  and  forward  to 
the  time  when  ".there  shall  be  a  new  heaven  and  a 
new  earth" — though  it  measures  all  space — though 
it  explains  all  laws  relating  to  matter  and  motion — 
though  it  transports  us  to  the  central  point  of  the 
physical  universe,  whence  we  behold  the  heavenly 
hosts  moving  in  celestial  harmony :  yet,  when  we 
approach  that  mysterious  line  where  the  finite  ter 
minates  and  the  infinite  begins,  new  visions  open  to 
the  mind — all  science  and  human  knowledge  fade 
away  like  castellated  clouds  made  brilliant  by  the 
setting  sun — Faith  then  arises  in  supernal  beauty, 
and,  with  veiled  eyes  and  trembling  voice,  we  con 
fess,  "  In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and  the 
Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God." 


INAUGURAL   DISCOURSE 


CHARLES  MURRAY  NAIRNE,  M.  A., 


PROFESSOR    OF    LITERATURE    AND    PHILOSOPHY, 


February,   1858. 


ADDRESS. 


THE  subjects  assigned  to  the  Professor  of  Litera 
ture  and  Philosophy  in  Columbia  College  are  so  multi 
farious,  that  a  notice  of  each  in  succession,  no  longer 
than  a  brief  newspaper  article,  would  occupy  the  whole 
time  allotted  to  the  present  discourse.  Within  the 
narrow  bounds  to  which  I  am  necessarily  limited,  how 
much  could  a  man  say  on  the  great  topics  of  Universal 
Grammar,  Rhetoric,  Logic,  Oratory,  ^Esthetics,  Psy 
chology,  Ethics,  Ancient  and  Modern  Literature,  the 
History  of  Philosophy,  and  that  finest  of  all  the  Fine 
Arts — the  living  representation  of  our  thoughts  and 
feelings,  by  the  symbols  and  the  music  of  our  mother 
tongue  ?  I  know  no  process  of  intellectual  condensa 
tion,  by  which  any  adequate  or  interesting  account 
of  so  many  departments  of  learning  could  be  laid 
before  you,  on  such  an  occasion  as  this.  Every  one 
of  them  would,  of  itself,  furnish  materials  sufficient 
to  fill  full  that  utmost  limit  of  the  American  listener's 
patience — an  hour. 

Were  I  to  make  a  selection  from  the  encyclopaedia 


156  MR.   NAIIWE'S    ADDRESS. 

of  arts  and  sciences  that  I  am  appointed  to  teach, 
and  to  group  together  those  three  kindred  branches, 
Logic,  Grammar  and  Rhetoric,  however  unpopular 
my  choice,  from  so  great  a  variety,  might  seem,  I 
doubt  not  that  I  could  unfold  to  you  such  views  of 
the  human  mind,  in  its  operations  of  thought  and 
expression,  as  would  not  fail  to  excite  your  curiosity, 
and  command  your  attention.  It  would  be  my  duty 
to  show  you  that  man  is  distinguished  from  the  lower 
animals,  and  connected  with  the  nature  of  angels  and 
of  God,  by  the  reasoning  faculty ;  and  that,  in  the  use 
of  this  faculty,  all  mankind — from  the  child  to  the 
sage,  from  the  barbarian  to  the  philosopher — are 
doing  precisely  the  same  thing  in  the  self-same  way — 
namely,  deducing  conclusions  from  premises.  The 
learned  are  conscious  of  the  syllogistic  process,  and 
can  reduce  their  reasonings  to  the  syllogistic  form ; 
the  unlearned  are  unconscious  of  the  process,  and 
perform  it  naturally ;  nevertheless  the  process  is 
identical  in  both ;  and  its  discovery  is  one  of  the 
noblest  examples  of  generalization  within  the  whole 
compass  of  human  knowledge — quite  as  noble  as  the 
law  of  affinity,  which,  in  fixed  proportions,  holds 
together  the  constituents  of  matter,  or  the  law  of 
gravitation,  which  links,  by  an  invisible  bond,  the 
spheres  of  the  celestial  concave. 

I  should  further  have  to  show  you  that,  as  language 


MR.   NAIRNE'S   ADDRESS.  157 

is  the  body  of  thought — the  audible  or  visible  sym- 
bolization  of  the  unseen  spirit's  operations  and  states 
—and  that  as  the  process  of  thinking  is  human- 
common  to,  and  characteristic  of,  the  entire  family  of 
man — the  propositions,  in  which  thoughts  are  embo 
died,  must  have  the  same  essential  form,  and  consist 
of  the  same  elements,  in  every  language  under  heaven. 
It  would  thus  appear  that  Grammar  is  not  an  art  but 
a  science — a  department  of  the  great  science  of  mind, 
possessing  deep  interest  as  an  intellectual  study; 
and  not  merely  a  system  of  rules  for  the  exercise  of 
school-boys,  and  the  prevention  of  slips  of  the  tongue. 
It  would  appear  that,  while  various  nations  employ 
various  sounds  to  designate  objects,  actions,  attributes, 
and  relations,  and  have  thus  each  a  different  lexico 
graphy,  the  grammar,  properly  so  called,  of  all  lan 
guages  is,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  idioms  and 
peculiar  arrangements  in  each,  the  very  same  ;  and 
that  it  is,  in  fact,  nearly  as  absurd  to  talk  of  Greek 
Grammar  and  Latin  Grammar,  English  Grammar  and 
French  Grammar,  as  it  would  be  to  talk  of  Greek, 
Latin,  English  and  French  Logic — Greek,  Latin,  Eng 
lish  and  French  Chemistry.  Logic  is  logic,  and 
Chemistry,  chemistry,  in  whatever  tongue  they  are 
employed  or  expounded ;  and  so,  also,  Grammar  is 
grammar — the  science  of  the  human  speech — in  Latin 
or  in  English,  in  Greek  or  in  French,  in  Chinese  or 


158  MR.   NAIRNE'S   ADDRESS. 

in  Choctaw.  Wherever  men  speak — wherever  the 
fjLepoTre?  avdpMTTOL  exist — they  must  of  necessity  in 
dicate  objects,  and,  therefore,  have  nouns ;  actions, 
and,  therefore,  have  verbs;  attributes,  and,  there 
fore,  have  adjectives ;  relations,  and,  therefore,  have 
prefixes  and  suffixes  separate  or  conjoined ;  and 
the  subject,  predicate  and  copula  must  be  used,  as 
often  as  mankind  have  anything  to  speak  of,  and 
something  to  say  concerning  it.  The  distinctions  of 
gender,  number  and  comparison — of  person,  time, 
mode,  and  voice  are  not  arbitrary,  but  determined 
by  the  nature  of  things.  In  short,  the  principles  of 
grammatical  science  are  universal  and  necessary  ;  and 
when  the  grammars  of  various  languages  are  divested 
of  the  absurdities  with  which  pedantry  has  overlaid 
them,  it  will  be  found  that  the  difference  between  one 
tongue  and  another  is  simply  a  difference  of  vocabu 
lary  and  arrangement — something  to  be  mastered  by 
the  memory,  rather  than  grasped  by  the  under 
standing — something  that  can  not  be  reduced  to  law, 
unless  we  receive  as  philosophy  the  hypothesis  that 
certain  vocal  elements  are  the  natural  and  universal 
representatives  of  certain  ideas. 

I  should  still  further  have  to  show  you  that,  as 
reasoning  and  speech  are  essential  attributes  of  hu 
manity,  so,  in  the  use  of  these  for  the  purposes  of 
convincing  and  persuading,  the  same  methods  of  in- 


MR.   NAIRNE'S   ADDRESS.  159 

venting  arguments,  and  the  same  ways  of  arranging 
and  applying  them,  are  common  to  every  speaker 
under  the  sun — to  all  nations,  and  kindreds  and 
peoples  and  tongues — to  the  Indian  chief  who  ha 
rangues  his  tribe,  the  diplomatist  who  negotiates 
treaties,  the  legislator  who  evokes  the  applause  of 
senates,  and  the  minister  of  religion  who  commends 
salvation  to  dying  men.  Real  Rhetoric  is  no  conven 
tional  mode  of  dressing  up  Truth — no  mere  fashion, 
changing  from  year  to  year,  and  varying  capriciously 
from  beauty  to  deformity  ;  but  a  genuine,  legitimate 
Art,  founded  on  universal  and  immutable  principles. 
It  is  an  art,  indeed,  to  which  genius  sometimes  may 
attain  almost  spontaneously,  as  Homer  and  Shake 
speare  did  in  poetry;  nevertheless,  Kke  poetry,  it  has 
its  conditioning  laws  which  the  philosopher  investi 
gates  with  pleasure,  and  which  even  genius  may 
study  with  advantage.  For  genius  is  no  lawless, 
wayward  power.  Its  own  insight  discerns  the  ide 
als  of  truth  and  beauty,  and  these  it  publishes  to 
mankind  in  its  own  practice.  It  is  the  image  and 
vicegerent  of  Eternal  Wisdom,  proclaiming  the  law 
of  Heaven  to  others,  while  itself  yielding  to  it  a  free 
and  loyal  obedience. 

Or  again,  quitting  abstruse  discussion,  and  choosing 
a  more  attractive  flower  from  my  garland,  I  might 


160  ME.   NAIRNE'S   ADDRESS. 

entertain  you  with  the  history  and  principles  of  Ora 
tory.  Were  I  to  make  this  selection,  it  would  be  my 
task  to  describe  those  mighty  masters  of  eloquence 
to  whose  fervid  speech  the  hearts  of  men  have  thrill 
ed,  and  by  whom  a  power  was  wielded  to  shape  the 
destinies  of  nations  and  the  world.  I  should  tell  you 
of  Nestor  and  Ulysses  as  they  utter  melodious  fascina 
tion  in  the  verse  of  Homer  ;  of  Demosthenes,  who 

"  fulmined  over  Greece 
To  Macedon  and  Artaxerxes'  throne ;" 

of  Tully,  who  transformed  Athenian  vehemence  and 
splendor  into  Roman  stateliness  and  majesty  ;  of  One 
far  greater  still,  who,  sitting  on  the  mountain  side,  or 
by  the  crowded  shore,  proclaimed  as  man  never  spake, 
and  with  a  celestial  dignity  beyond  the  loftiest  repose 
of  art,  the  sublime  revelations  of  life  and  immortal 
ity  ;  and  hastening  down  the  stream  of  time  I  should 
glance,  as  I  passed,  at  the  famous  preachers  and  dis 
putants — the  Augustines,  and  Chrysostoms,  and  Abe- 
lards — of  the  middle  ages,  till,  having  crossed  the 
abyss  that  divides  the  ancient  world  from  the  modern, 
I  should  group  before  you,  in  their  various  characters, 
the  most  distinguished  orators  who  have  flourished 
since  the  birth  of  the  Reformation — Luther  and 
Knox,  with  their  rugged  impetuosity;  the  more 
courtly  and  classic  rhetoricians  of  the  Anglican  and 


MR.   NAIRNE'S  ADDRESS.  161 

Galilean  churches,  and  the  stern  conscience-searchers 
of  the  Puritan  meeting-house ;  the  fiery  invective  of 
Chatham,  and  the  magnificence  of  his  indomitable 
son  ;  the  glory  of  Fox,  the  splendor  of  Sheridan,  and 
the  philosophic  gorgeousness  of  Burke  ;  the  forensic 
brilliancy  of  Erskine,  Curran,  and  Scarlett;  the  en 
ergetic  elegance  of  Canning,  and  the  dark  strength 
of  Brougham ;  the  fearless  simplicity  of  Henry,  the 
logical  massiveness  of  Webster,  the  prophetic  rapture 
of  Edward  Irving,  and  the  overwhelming  intensity  of 
Chalmers. 

And  when  I  passed  from  the  distinguishing  char 
acteristics  of  these  and  other  great  masters  in  ora 
tory,  to  the  nature  of  eloquence  itself,  I  should  show 
you  that  the  grand  secret  of  power  in  them  all  was 
naturalness  and  earnestness ;  and  that  the  attributes 
which  peculiarly  belonged  to  the  worthiest  of  them, 
were  resolute  honesty,  strong  love  of  man,  and  a 
heart-felt  adoration  of  truth. 

Or  again,  if,  omitting  the  laws  of  reason  and  speech, 
and  the  practical  use  of  these  laws  by  the  orator  in 
convincing  and  persuading  his  fellows,  I  were  to  se 
lect  from  my  repertory  the  subject  of  ^Esthetics,  or 
the  Philosophy  of  Taste,  it  would  be  my  endeavor  to 
display  before  you  that  beauty  which  clothes  all  Na 
ture  as  with  a  vesture  of  light,  and  has  its  source  and 
11 


162  MR,   NAIRNE'S   ADDRESS. 

centre  in  the  Eternal,  who  dwells  amid  light  that  is 
inaccessible  and  full  of  glory ;  and  to  investigate  that 
susceptibility,  unpossessed  by  the  brute — whose  eye 
conveys  no  sense  of  loveliness  from  the  loveliest  land 
scape — but  bestowed  on  human  beings,  and  regaling 
their  souls  with  all  those  delights  of  shape  and  sound, 
of  motion  and  melody,  which  reflect,  in  Creation,  the 
ineffable  aspect  of  the  Infinitely  Beautiful.  Nor 
would  my  essay  be  complete,  till,  in  addition  to  the 
objective  beauty  of  God  and  His  works,  and  the  sub 
jective  human  sensibility  that  thrills  to  it,  I  should 
speak  of  those  immortal  creations,  wherein  the  genius 
of  poet,  painter,  sculptor,  architect,  musician,  and 
orator,  has  enshrined  the  divine  loveliness  and  sub 
limity  of  the  universe ;  and  show  you  how  the  spirit 
of  every  one  of  them,  either  consciously  or  unconsci 
ously,  held  high  converse  with  Him  who,  from  the 
beauty  of  His  holiness,  sheds  over  heaven  a  bright 
ness  above  the  brightness  of  the  sun. 

There  is  what  may  be  termed  a  language  of 
form,  expressed  in  figure  and  tone,  addressing  itself 
intelligibly  to  the  reason,  and  exciting  in  the  heart 
emotions  corresponding  to  every  sentiment  of  rational 
beings.  Man,  as  rational,  has  the  capacity  to  under 
stand  this  language,  and,  therefore,  it  is,  to  a  certain 
extent,  known  and  read  of  all  men ;  but  the  language 
of  form  must  be  studied  in  order  to  be  fully  compre- 


MR.  NAIRNE'S  ADDRESS.  163 

hended,  and  the  susceptibility  must  be  cultivated,  in 
order  to  receive  all  the  enjoyment  which  the  language 
is  fitted  to  awaken.  From  the  intercourse  that  we 
are  compelled  to  hold  with  our  fellow-mortals,  we 
learn  first  to  interpret  the  symbols  of  beauty  in  the 
lineaments  of  the  human  countenance,  and  in  the  ac 
cents  of  the  human  tongue.  That  mysterious  thing 
which  we  call  expression  is  evidently  conveyed  by 
mere  shape  and  sound ;  and,  to  become  sensible 
of  the  wonderful  adaptation  of  these  to  represent 
every  shade  of  sentiment,  we  have  only  to  consider 
how  slight  are  the  modifications  of  outline  which 
will  alter  the  whole  expression  of  one's  face,  and  the 
changes  of  tone  which  will  represent  joy  or  sorrow, 
cheerfulness  or  solemnity,  hope  or  despondency.  It 
is  the  same  countenance  that  we  see,  and  the  same 
voice  that  we  hear — the  countenance  and  the  voice 
of  our  familiar  friend — not  a  feature  or  tone  is  unre 
cognized;  but  complicated  changes  of  form  have 
taken  place,  which  the  reason  instantaneously  appre 
hends,  and  to  which  the  susceptibility  instantaneously 
responds.  The  changes  in  point  of  quantity  have 
been  very  small,  but  they  have  been  sufficient  to 
tell  the  story  of  one  mind  to  another ;  and  to  tell 
it  with  a  rapidity  and  concentration  to  which  the 
power  of  ordinary  language  is  -  but  feebleness.  Now, 
from  this  one  example  we  may  learn  the  general  ex- 


164  MR.   NAIENE'S   ADDEESS. 

pressiveness  of  shape  and  sound;  and  understand 
how  the  Divine  Artist,  in  creation,  or  the  human 
artist,  in  his  chosen  walk  of  painting,  sculpture,  music, 
or  poetry,  may  convey  to  all  rational  "beings,  by  out 
line  and  measure,  the  ideal  that  exists  in  his  own  soul. 
In  the  course  of  our  JEsthetical  Education,  the  lan 
guage  of  beauty  becomes  continually  more  pregnant 
to  our  intellect  and  more  striking  to  our  sensibility, 
till,  at  last,  in  the  galleries  of  art,  in  the  cathedral 
and  the  concert-room,  or  amid  the  scenery  and  har 
monies  of  nature,  the  sentient  spirit  drinks  in  meaning 
and  delight  from  all  that  surrounds  it.  The  insight 
of  reason  reads  the  sentiment  of  every  form.  The 
statue,  the  picture,  the  tune,  the  landscape,  are  all 
inspired — and  the  mind  catches  the  import  of  each 
"  peculiarity  of  modulated  tone  and  delineated  figure. 
The  utterance  of  human  sentiment  in  sensible  forms 
gives  Beauty ;  and  when  the  disclosed  sentiment  is 
that  of  a  superhuman  spirit,  and  we  stand  awe-struck 
in  the  presence  of  an  angel  or  a  divinity,  the  Beauty 
rises  proportionally,  and  elevates  itself  into  the 
Sublime.7'* 

Or  yet  again,  were  I  attracted  from  all  the 
rest  of  my  themes  by  the  charms  of  Literature, 
it  would  be  my  duty  to  characterize,  in  the  first 

*Hickok's  Pyschology. 


MR.  KAIENE'S  ADDRESS.  165 

place,  the  collective  literature  of  nations,  as  embody 
ing  and  exhibiting  the  peculiarities  of  national  mind  :— 
the  primitive  simplicity  of  the  Hebrew  chroniclers, 
and    the   unapproachable   majesty  of  the  Hebrew 
poets — the   splendor,  variety,   and   all   but    perfect 
beauty  of  Grecian  genius,  and   the   borrowed  lus 
tre  of  its  Roman  imitators — the  half-christian,  half- 
pagan  imaginations  of  mediaeval  Italy  and  Spain — 
the  grandeur  of  English  letters  in  the  early  vigor  of 
their  youth,  when  Shakespeare  created,  and  Bacon 
philosophized,  and  Raleigh  began  the  history  of  the 
world — the  more  artificially  polished  productions  of 
the  Gallic  muse,  which,  crossing  the  channel  as  the 
missionaries  of  a  less  sturdy  civilization,   converted 
the  English  Miltons  and  Jeremy  Taylors  into  Popes 
and  Addisons,  and  the  Scottish  Knoxes  and  Buchan 
ans  into  Robertsons  and  Blairs — the  Teutonic  revul 
sion,  which  brought  back  the  reign  of  originality  and 
of  power  in  Germany,  and  spread  from  thence  to 
Britain  and  even  into  France  herself — and  last  of  all, 
that  hybrid  style  of  thought  and  writing,  which  the 
mixed  population  and  rapid  growth  of  our  own  coun 
try  have  necessitated,  and  the  elements  of  which  have 
not  yet  become  so  blended  and  assimilated  into  a 
unity  as  to  constitute  a  peculiar  national  literature. 
And  then,  passing  from  the  broader  distinctions  of 
national  genius  to  the  more  marked  peculiarities  of 


166  ME.  NAIRKE'S  ADDRESS. 

individual  authors,  it  would  be  my  happiness  to  ex 
patiate  in  retrospect  among  the  u  departed  spirits  of 
the  mighty  dead" — of  all  whose  names  live  in  the 
page  of  history,  and  without  whom  History  herself 
had  never  been — seeing  that  if  the  exploits  of  kings 
and  heroes  had  remained  unchronicled  by  annalist 
and  bard,  they  would  all  have  been  forgotton  utterly, 
or  only  recalled,  in  dimness  and  in  terror,  by  the 
ruins  of  ancient  cities, 

"  And  mighty  relics  of  gigantic  bones," 

turned  up  by  the  peasant's  plough  from  the  battle 
fields  and  burial-grounds  of  unrecorded  generations, 

"  Vixere  fortes  ante  Agamemnona 

Multi  :  sed  omnes  illacrimabiles 

Urguentur  ignotique  longa 

Nocte,  carent  quia  rate  sacro." 

Having  thus  dismissed,  by  little  more  than  a  mere 
mention  of  them,  all  the  other  topics  belonging  to 
my  department,  I  come  now  to  the  noblest  and  most 
arduous  of  the  whole — the  philosophy  of  the  True 
and  the  Good.  Were  I  to  attempt  presenting  you 
with  an  outline  of  intellectual  and  ethical  science, 
and  a  skeleton  history  of  philosophy,  extending  from 
the  remote  era  of  Pythagoras,  who  first  employed 
the  term,  through  the  various  schools  of  Greece  and 
Italy,  down  to  the  present  time,  the  sketch  would  be 


ME.   NAIRNE'S   ADDRESS.  167 

so  meagre,  imperfect  and  uninteresting,  that  it  would 
give  little  satisfaction  either  to  listeners  or  to  speaker. 
Neither  can  I  allow  myself  to  enlarge,  in  general 
terms,  on  the  importance  of  moral  and  metaphysical 
study,  as  dealing  with  the  most  momentous  questions 
that  can  engage  the  mind  of  man,  and  investigating 
the  foundations  of  all  knowledge  whatsoever.  It 
is  on  the  high  places  of  philosophy  that  the  skeptic, 
the  atheist,  the  pantheist,  the  materialist,  and  the 
spiritualist  must  be  met  and  overthrown.  Hence  the 
value  and  the  difficulty  of  the  inquiries  which 
philosophy  embraces.  But,  instead  of  touching,  ex 
cept  incidentally,  on  any  of  these  inquiries,  I  deem 
it  of  far  greater  consequence  at  present  to  aver,  with 
as  much  publicity  and  emphasis  as  possible,  that  of 
all  the  professors  in  your  College,  it  is  most  indis 
pensable  that  he  who  occupies  the  chair  of  philoso 
phy  should  be  thoroughly  sound  in  the  faith  of  the 
Gospel ;  for,  in  the  name  of  science  and  under  covert 
of  her  robe,  he  may  teach,  if  so  minded,  the  wildest 
and  most  pernicious  doctrines.  I  desire,  then,  first  of 
all  to  declare  that,  both  from  the  constitution  of  my 
intellect  and  the  impulses  of  my  heart,  I  am  com 
pelled  to  believe  that  there  is  a  God — a  self-conscious, 
personal,  infinitely  gracious  Maker  and  Father  of  all 
The  infinite  is  not  opposed  to  the  finite  as  light  is  to 
darkness,  truth  to  falsehood,  right  to  wrong,  virtue  to 


168  MR.  NAIRNE'S   ADDRESS. 

vice.  Tlie  infinite  embraces  the  finite,  and  the  idea 
of  the  latter  necessarily  calls  forth,  as  its  correlative 
and  complement,  the  idea  of  the  former.  My  mind 
cannot  survey  the  boundaries  of  the  finite  and  con 
ditioned  without  gazing  awfully  into  the  infinite  that 
contains  it,  and  reverentially  toward  the  Absolute,  of 
whom  I  myself  am  a  feeble  image.  My  soul  is  not 
satisfied — its  natural  craving  is  not  filled — until  it  has 
passed  the  confines  which  mark  off  that  which  is 
limited  within  that  which  is  limitless.  Here  am  I 
placed  "  upon  this  bank  and  shoal  of  time"  between 
two  eternities — the  denizen  of  a  little  isle  amid  an 
immeasurable  ocean !  My  vision  can  reach  but  a 
brief  space  into  the  vast  profound  that  environs  me 
above  and  below,  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left ; 
and  although  my  spirit,  as  it  makes  excursions  into 
creation,  can  discern  much  that  is  good  and  great,  fair 
and  admirable,  it  is  still  perplexed  and  baifled  in  its 
contemplations — "  shadows,  clouds  and  darkness  rest" 
upon  its  views,  till,  from  its  own  depths,  like  the  sun 
from  the  nether  hemisphere,  springs  the  sublime  dis 
covery  that  there  is  a  God ! 

In  the  stillness  of  a  star-lit  night,  you  may  have 
cast  your  eyes  over  some  fine  landscape,  and  as  you 
traced  the  glimmering  circuit  of  the  woods,  and 
recognized  the  dark  masses  of  the  mountain-range, 
and  saw  the  stars  reflected  in  the  river's  bosom,  and 


ME.   NAIENE'S  ADDEESS.  169 

descried  the  mansions,  turreted  and  gray,  or  less 
picturesque  and  less  hallowed  by  time,  rising  through 
the  shade,  and  humanizing  the  whole  scene  with  the 
interests  and  occupations  of  man — as  you  stood, 
gazing  and  musing,  you  have  said  within  yourselves — 
"How  fair  would  this  prospect  be  were  the  round 
moon  now  pouring  her  lustre  on  river,  and  wood,  and 
dwelling,  and  hill ;  and  how  passing  fair,  when  it  lies 
glowing  in  the  full  sunshine  that  at  once  discloses 
and  exalts  its  loveliness !"  Nay,  the  very  pleasure 
with  which,  even  in  the  night,  you  behold  it,  is 
mainly  owing  to  your  recollection  of  its  daylight 
glories,  or  of  something  similar ;  and  you  can  scarcely 
fancy  the  dim  and  dull  impression  it  would  make 
upon  a  being  who  could  not  fill  up  its  proportions 
from  such  recollection,  and  body  forth  its  hidden 
features,  in  the  exercise  of  an  imagination  which  had 
been  informed  by  the  actual  survey  of  the  unveiled 
beauties  of  nature.  It  is  even  so  witli  Creation  when 
contemplated  apart  from  a  Creator  !  It  is  even  so 
with  the  present  condition  of  things  wlwn  regarded 
apart  from  a  God  of  justice  and  goodness,  holiness 
and  truth — the  very  God  whom  the  Bible  describes. 
Without  a  God,  there  lowers  a  most  perplexing 
obscurity  over  the  whole.  I  can  discern  beauties, 
but  they  are  clouded ;  harmonies,  but,  when  I  at 
tempt  to  track  them,  they  fade  in  the  infinity  of  the 


ME.   NAIENE'S   ADDEESS. 


surrounding  darkness  ;  design,  but  it  is  only  frag 
mentary,  and  not  seldom  apparently  frustrated  ; 
operations,  benevolent,  and,  to  some  extent,  effectual, 
but  often  cruelly  interfered  with,  and  rendered  dis- 
tractingly  abortive  ;  something  grand  and  graceful,  it 
is  true,  but  shadowy  and  evanescent,  dreamy  and 
dubious,  without  be^rinninsr  and  without  end  ;  and  I 

7  O  O 

am  puzzled  to  account  for  interruptions,  and  vacuities, 
and  discrepancies,  and  disturbances,  and  feel  intensely 
the  need  of  some  superior  illumination  to  irradiate 
the  entire  field  of  view,  and  dispel  the  mystery  —  a 
mystery  as  much  of  confusion  as  of  vastness  —  that 
broods  over  everything  before  me.  Chains  of  causa 
tion  I  can  partially  trace,  but  I  discern  no  Omnipotent 
Hand  from  which  they  are  suspended  ;  goodly  fabrics 
of  antecedent  and  consequent  I  can  see,  but  no  Rock 
of  ages  on  which  their  foundations  are  laid;  motion  I 
perceive,  but  no  Prime  Mover  ;  regularity,  but  no 
Regulator  ;  law,  but  no  Law-giver  ;  life,  but  no 
Fountain  of  life  ;  scattered  portions  of  truth,  but  no 
great  Being  who  is  the  substance  of  truth  —  in  whom 
all  truth  centres,  and  of  whose  nature  all  truth  is  only 
the  disclosure  and  the  outward  expression  !  Now, 
tlie  master-key  to  the  wliole  of  tliis  mystery  is  the 
existence  of  a  Supreme  Creator  and  Rider.  The  forth- 
flashing  of  this  grand  fact  is  the  dayspring  from  on 
high,  which,  illuminating  the  Kosmos,  brings  to  our 


MR,  NAIKKE'S  ADDEESS.  171 

view  its  order  and  dependence — its  origin  and  its 
end  ;  enables  us  to  walk  surely,  like  those  who  walk 
at  noon,  instead  of  groping  and  peering  like  those 
who  walk  in  darkness ;  and  gives  rest  to  the  soul's 
weary  wings,  by  presenting  an  ultimate  object  where 
on,  in  common  with  the  entire  universe,  the  exploring 
spirit  reposes  from  its  travel,  and  is  satisfied. 

When  I  first  look  up  to  the  heavens,  I  behold 
nothing  save  an  expanse  of  splendid  confusion — a 
high  o'erarching  canopy  glittering  with  lights  of 
spiritual  brightness.  Their  distances  are  all  the  same 
to  my  vision,  and  they  appear  scattered  over  the 
mighty  concave  at  random.  No  sound  issues  from 
the  aerial  dome — no  living  thing  can  be  discerned 
walking  amidst  these  lamps;  and  when  they 
themselves  are,  at  length,  discovered  to  move,  their 
march  is  tardy  and  without  array  ;  for  they  fall  not 
into  ranks,  and  some  of  them  seem  to  wander  even 
from  their  own  circles.  Amid  the  multiplicity  of 
luminaries,  there  is  still  obscurity.  The  stars  are  still 
the  stars  of  night.  Whence  are  they,  I  ask,  and  what 
are  they  ?  What  is  their  nature  and  what  their  use  ? 
Is  the  frame-work,  in  which  they  are  inlaid,  really  a 
firmament — a  substantial,  resisting  roof — and  do  they 
stud  its  surface  merely  to  regale  my  eyes,  and  exer 
cise  my  curious  fancy  ?  I  cannot  tell ! 

As  yet  I  cannot  tell :  but  let  me  grasp  the  torch  of 


1Y2  MR.   NAIRNE'S  ADDRESS. 

science.  The  astronomer  demonstrates  that  those 
lamps  are  orbs — probably  worlds  like  our  own ;  that 
they  revolve  in  paths  of  geometric  symmetry,  although 
so  vast  that  the  whole  vault  overhead  is  too  limited 
a  scroll  to  exhibit  such  a  portion  of  those  paths  as 
would  determine  their  figures  to  our  sight ;  and  that, 
throughout  all  space,  there  prevails  a  law  which  gov 
erns  the  huge  globes  wherewith  its  amplitudes  are  fill 
ed,  and,  under  this  law,  that  which  originally  appears 
disorder  is  regularity,  far  more  accurate  and  exquisite 
than  that  of  the  most  ingenious  and  delicate  of  human 
contrivances.  Now  I  begin  to  approach  towards 
satisfaction.  The  firmament,  I  find,  is  not  a  solid 
crystalline  canopy;  neither  is  there  any  longer  dis 
order  among  the  starry  train.  My  mind  now  cleaves 
the  depths  of  space,  and,  to  the  glance  of  science, 
mechanism,  stupendous  both  in  magnitude  and  har 
mony,  is  disclosed  in  its  mighty  and  mysterious 
recesses.  But  after  all  I  am  not  yet  content.  My 
spirit  pants  with  the  majesty  of  its  own  discoveries. 
I  am  confounded  by  the  very  grandeur  which  has 
been  evoked.  Amidst  an  illimitable  universe  I  stand 
awe-struck  and  baffled,  as  if,  too  daring  in  my  curios 
ity,  I  had  intruded,  under  guidance  of  a  potent  genius, 
into  a  region  of  sublimity  where  even  he  might  fear 
to  tread.  Here  it  is,  however,  that  the  still  small 
voice  of  my  inmost  reason  is  answered  by  the  celestial 


MB.   NAIKNE'S   ADDEESS. 


oracle  of  Kevelation;  and  tlie  two,  blending  into 
harmony,  proclaim  —  "  God  is,  and  God  reigneth  !"- 
Witliin  the  infinite  domain  where  I  had  penetrated, 
they  point  me  to  a  throne,  and  to  a  Sovereign  seated 
thereon.  The  Almighty  Maker  and  Mover  is  seen  ! 
My  wonder  now  becomes  adoration  ;  my  astonishment 
is  exalted  into  reverence.  The  insecurity,  the  uncer 
tainty,  and  the  absence  of  cause,  which  oppressed  my 
soul,  are  now  gone.  It  no  more  falters  amid  unex 
plained  marvels.  It  has  risen  to  the  summit  of  truth, 
and  from  that  empyreal  height  it  sees,  like  a  seraph 
on  the  battlements  of  Heaven,  the  whole  creation 
roll  beneath  it,  without  shock  and  without  confusion  ! 
The  light  which  the  astronomer  kindled  was  sufficient 
only  to  show  the  vastness  of  the  prospect.  Dimness 
and  doubt  still  lay  upon  its  inimitably  receding 
depths.  It  was  still  the  landscape  without  the  sun. 
The  God  who  said 

"Let  Newton  be," 

was  still  Himself  to  be  revealed  ;  and  then,  but  not 
till  then,  all  became  really  light;  and  the  orbs  of 
the  sky  were  perceived  to  obey  His  voice,  and  their 
splendor  seen  to  be  an  irradiation  from  the  "  co-eter 
nal  beam  of  the  Eternal"  —  the  "  light  which  no  man 
can  approach"  — 

"  Bright  effluence  of  bright  essence  uncreate  !" 


174 


ME.     NAIRNES     ADDRESS. 


It  is  thus  that  the  existence  of  a  God  forms  the 
Key-stone  of  the  entire  structure  of  knowledge.  His 
being  is  the  grand  truth,  that,  like  the  central  sphere 
of  our  solar  system,  gathers  all  others  around  it,  and 
harmonizes  them,  all,  and  sheds  light  upon  them  all, 
and  infuses  life  into  them  all ;  and  he,  that  would 
shut  out  this  truth  from  his  investigations,  seems  to 
me  scarcely  so  wise  as  the  man  who  should  make  his 
own  chamber  his  universe,  and  content  himself  with 
examining  its  paltry  appointments  by  the  glimmer  of 
his  own  taper,  while  he  jealously  excluded  every  ray 
coming  from  the  fair  and  illuminated  world  beyond 
its  walls. 

The  Bible  tells  us  that,  before  man  was  made,  the 
earth  was  replenished  with  every  green  and  every 
breathing  thing.  The  garden  was  planted  and  wa 
tered,  and  it  teemed  with  life  and  beauty.  Streams 
sparkled  in  the  sun,  breezes  whispered  in  the  shade, 
fruits  glowed  upon  the  boughs,  flowers  enameled 
the  sward  and  opened  their  fragrant  bosoms  to  the 
day,  birds  warbled  among  the  bowers  of  Eden, 
beasts  sported  on  its  glades,  and  all  creation  awaited 
the  advent  of  creation's  lord,  whose  immortal  mind 
was  capable  of  ruling  it,  and  appreciating  the  proofs 
of  wisdom,  power,  and  goodness  which,  though  ex 
isting  in  their  own  frames  and  functions,  the  creatures 
themselves  were  unable  to  comprehend.  And  surely 


NAIUNE'S  ADDRESS. 


it  is  no  vain  or  improbable  imagination  to  fancy  the 
first  man  picturing  to  himself,  how  unfinished  and  un 
satisfactory  would  have  been  the  curious  work  before 
him,  had  he  who  was  its  crown  and  glory  not  been 
produced,  and  invested  with  dominion  over  it.  We 
can  still  further  fancy  his  procedure,  as,  in  the  exer 
cise  of  his  newly-awakened  consciousness,  he  must 
have  inquired  into  the  secret  of  his  own  being- 
gazing  for  a  while  on  external  things,  and  then  turn 
ing  to  his  own  body,  perusing  his  own  limbs,  trying 
his  own  powers,  and,  when  he  found  all  so  fitly  and 
surprisingly  made,  questioning  the  creatures  already 
formed,  as  if  they,  with  thought  and  speech  like  his 
own,  could  tell  him  whence  and  what  he  was,  and 
conjecturing,  in  the  fullness  of  his  doubt  and  wonder, 
what  all  the  enchantment  about  him  could  mean,  till, 
amid  his  delight  and  perplexity,  he  at  length  hears  and 
knows  the  voice  of  God,  and,  bending  with  instinct 
ive  reverence  before  His  presence,  learns  from  the  Di 
vine  utterance  the  mystery  of  his  own  existence  and 
destiny,  and  the  explanation  of  the  manifold  other 
existences  that  encompassed  him  on  every  side.  Such 
an  incident  as  this  would  come  upon  him  with  all  the 
cheerfulness  and  certainty  of  light.  His  undefined 
desires  it  would  both  bring  to  shape  and  satisfy,  and, 
like  the  discovery  of  any  other  great  principle,  it 
would  reduce  to  order,  and  clearness,  and  unity,  that 


ME.   NAIENE'S  ADDEESS. 


which,  without  it,  or  something  equivalent  to  it, 
would  have  forever  remained  to  him  a  problem 
incapable  of  solution. 

Now,  this  stroke  of  Milton's  imagination,  which  I 
have  adapted  to  my  present  purpose,  is  not  produced 
as  a  fact,  but  as  an  illustration.  It  is  most  eminently 
natural.  To  be  sure,  there  is  none  of  us  in  circum 
stances  similar  to  those  of  Adam  with  reference  to 
the  knowledge  and  theory  of  creation.  The  existence 
of  a  Creator  and  Supreme  Ruler  is  part  of  our  earliest 
and  most  familiar  belief;  and  thus  it  is  that  we  are 
under  the  necessity  of  making  a  strong  effort  to  ap 
preciate  the  sudden  and  self-evidencing  power  of  a 
discovery  like  that  which  we  suppose  to  have  been 
made  to  him.  Nevertheless,  on  making  such  an 
effort,  the  result  will  be  powerfully  felt,  and  we  shall 
perceive  that,  in  order  to  give  unity,  consistency,  and 
intelligibility  to  the  universe,  both  in  its  physical 
relations  and  in  its  moral  aspects,  we  are  compelled 
to  admit  the  being  of  a  God.  It  is  the  principle  of 
affinity  which  gives  unity  to  Chemistry  —  of  gravita 
tion  which  gives  unity  to  Astronomy  —  of  conscience 
which  gives  unity  to  Ethics  —  of  propitiation  which 
gives  unity  to  Christianity  —  of  life  which  gives  unity 
to  animals  —  of  personality  which  gives  unity  to  the 
human  being;  —  and,  in  like  manner,  the  universe 
is  not  felt  to  be  One  —  seems  not  a  Kosmos,  but  a 


MR.   NAIRKE'S   ADDRESS. 


stupendous  puzzle,  until  reason  starts,  and  Revelation 
confirms,  that  greatest  of  all  truths,  that  God  is,  and 
that  God  reigneth — the  Maker,  Mover,  and  Father 
of  all 

In  the  second  place,  I  seize  this  public  and  appro 
priate  opportunity  of  declaring  that,  from  no  superfi 
cial  study  of  its  evidences  both  historical  and  internal, 
I  am  steadfast  in  the  belief  that  the  Bible  is  the  word 
of  God — that  the  inspiration  of  the  sacred  writers  is 
no  mere  theological  name  for  the  intuitions  of 
human  genius — that  "thus  saith  the  Lord"  means 
literally  and  simply  "  thus  saith  the  Lord" — and  that, 
with  the  trifling  exception  of  accidental  mistakes 
common  to  all  books  that  have  been  multiplied  by 
transcription,  the  Holy  Scriptures  contain  truth  with 
out  mixture  of  error.  I  am  fully  aware  that  the 
Bible  was  not  given  to  instruct  men  in  science  and 
philosophy,  and  that  its  language  is  the  language  of 
the  people,  not  of  sages  and  savans.  I  am  further 
most  fully  aware  that  we  are  now  in  possession  of  a 
critical  apparatus — a  method  of  interpreting  ancient 
writings — which  implies  not  only  a  grammatical  famil 
iarity  with  their  dialect,  but  likewise  a  historical  fa 
miliarity  with  the  speculative  opinions  and  modes  of 
thinking,  common  to  the  age  and  country  in  which  the 

writers  of  them  lived.     And  I  am  still  further  aware 
12 


178  ME.   NAIBKE'S   ADDKESS. 

that  the  researches  of  travelers  and  antiquaries,  and 
the  labors  of  scientific  men — astronomers,  geograph 
ers,  geologists,  naturalists,  metaphysicians,  ethnologists, 
and  even  chemists — have  cast  light  on  many  portions 
of  Scripture,  and  enabled  critics  to  improve  the  inter 
pretation  of  them,  so  that  apparent  discrepancies 
between  science  and  revelation  have  been  reconciled, 
and  those  things  which,  at  first,  were  difficulties,  have 
actually  become  demonstrations.  Of  all  these  facts  I 
am  most  fully  aware ;  and,  in  view  of  them  all,  I  affirm 
that  were  my  investigations  in  philosophy  to  land  me 
in  a  result  that  is  clearly  at  variance  with  the  well- 
ascertained  import  of  the  Divine  Word,  I  would  stop 
short  instantly,  assured  that  I  was  either  wrong  in 
my  philosophical  principles,  or  faulty  in  my  logical 
deductions  ;  and  I  would  earnestly  retrace  my  steps, 
and  search  diligently  till  I  had  found  where  my  error 
lay.  Others  may  call  this  timidity — or  even  bigotry 
—if  they  choose.  I  call  it  reA^erential  caution ;  and 
I  freely  confess  that  I  should  neither  have  the  fool- 
hardiness  to  intrude  anti-christian  theories  upon  the 
undergraduates  of  a  College,  nor  the  dishonesty  to 
retain  a  position,  where  I  should  be  compelled  to  in 
culcate  doctrines  which  I  did  not  most  firmly  believe. 
According  to  my  view — which  is  also  that  of  St. 
Paul — and,  therefore,  the  correct  one — the  grand 
central  idea  of  the  Gospel  is  atonement  by  sacri- 


ME.  NAIENE'S  ADDEESS.  179 

fice.  Now,  it  is  certain  that  the  great  "mystery 
of  godliness — God  manifest  in  the  flesh,"  is  altogether 
beyond  the  ken  of  human  philosophy.  German 
rationalists  and  their  disciples  may  tell  me  that  every 
man  is  an  incarnation  of  Divinity,  and  their  words, 
when  they  so  speak,  may  not  be  destitute  of  mean 
ing ;  but  of  this  I  am  very  sure,  that  they  do  not 
mean  what  St.  John  says,  when  he  announces  that 
the  "  Word  was  made  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us." 
This  truth  is  a  matter  of  pure  revelation.  Neverthe 
less,  although  our  philosophy  could  never  have  solved 
the  divine  problem  for  which  the  Word  became  in 
carnate — how  shall  God  be  just,  and  yet  the  justifier 
of  sinners  ? — philosophy  assuredly  does  point  us,  with 
no  uncertain  indication,  to  the  necessity  of  a  Redeem 
er,  and  hints  not  obscurely  that  our  Redeemer  must 
be  Almighty.  A  short  demonstration  of  these  facts 
will  terminate  the  present  address,  and  show,  in  a 
sufficiently  intelligible  way,  how  philosophical  investi 
gation  may  be  applied  to  questions  of  the  highest 
practical  moment. 

The  knowledge  and  the  power  of  man  being  both 
limited,  he  may  not  be  able,  in  the  first  place,  to  form 
a  perfect  conception  of  an  end  which  he  desires  to 
accomplish;  and,  in  the  second  place,  he  may  not 
have  sufficient  skill  to  devise  and  adapt  the  means 
whereby  it  may  be  accomplished  perfectly.  His  con- 


180  ME.   NAIKNE'S   ADDKESS. 

trivances  may  be  faulty,  either  by  excess  or  by  defect. 
The  material  chosen  may  not  be  the  most  suitable, 
and  it  may  be  improperly  distributed.  There  may 
be  a  superfluity  of  strength  in  one  part,  and  a 
deficiency  in  another,  and  the  application  of  his 
machinery  may,  and  in  fact  generally  does,  admit 
of  improvement.  In  short,  his  advances  towards  per 
fection  are  necessarily  tentative  and  experimental. 
He  does  not  produce  it  at  once  by  intuition  or  in 
stinct,  as  the  bee  constructs  its  cells  and  the  bird  its 
nest.  And  as  it  is  with  man's  material  contrivances, 
so  also  it  is  with  his  schemes  of  moral  and  intellect 
ual  mechanism.  In  government,  in  education,  and  in 
philanthropic  enterprise,  he  proceeds  by  trial  and 
error,  and  does  not  arrive  at  the  best  plan  till  after 
many  a  failure  and  many  an  alteration. 

But  God,  on  the  contrary,  being  infinite  in  wisdom 
and  infinite  in  power,  knows  at  once  the  very  end  He 
would  gain,  and  the  very  means  that  are  requisite  to 
gain  it.  This  is  an  obvious  deduction  from  the  very 
notion  of  Godhead.  And  the  truth,  thus  emanat 
ing  from  a  source  a  pi^iori,  is  exemplified  in  all  the 
contrivances  and  arrangements  of  the  universe.  In 
God's  works  there  is  neither  defect  nor  superfluity. 
The  power  employed  is  most  precisely  proportioned 
and  adapted  to  the  work  that  is  to  be  done.  If  the 
whale,  for  instance,  requires  to  dive  to  depths  in  the 


MR.  NAIRKE'S  ADDRESS.  181 

ocean  where  the  pressure  would  be  destructive  to 
other  creatures,  it  is  made  strong  in  proportion  to 
that  pressure.  If  the  eagle  must  soar  heavenward,  its 
bones  and  quills  are  made  light,  and  if  it  must  battle 
with  the  storm,  they  are  likewise  made  strong.  If 
the  habitat  of  a  fish  is  the  dark  waters  of  the  Mam 
moth  Cave,  the  creature  is  unprovided  with  eyes,  but 
in  the  feline  family,  which  seek  their  prey  in  the 
night-time,  the  organ  of  vision  is  capable  of  extraor 
dinary  enlargement.  The  tribes  of  the  sea  have  no 
fountain  of  tears  wherewith  to  lubricate  the  eye-ball, 
because  they  need  none  ;  but  the  dwellers  on  the  land 
are  furnished  with  the  necessary  secretion.  And  so 
on,  throughout  all  nature,  there  is  nothing  superfluous 
and  nothing  defective.  In  cases  of  human  mechanism, 
where  calculations,  involving  the  profoundest  mathe 
matical  principles,  have  been  made  to  determine  the 
exact  medium  between  excess  and  defect,  it  has  been 
found  that  the  Creator  had  anticipated  the  solution 
of  the  difficulty.  "  During  the  latter  part  of  the  last 
century," — says  Edgar  Allan  Poe — "  the  question 
arose  among  mathematicians, — '  to  determine  the  best 
form  that  can  be  given  to  the  sails  of  a  wind-mill, 
according  to  their  various  distances  from  the  revolv 
ing  vanes,  and  likewise  from  the  centres  of  the  revo 
lution.'  This  is  an  excessively  complex  problem ;  for 
it  is,  in  other  words,  to  find  the  best  possible  position 


182  ME.   NAIRNE'S   ADDRESS. 

at  an  infinity  of  varied  distances,  and  at  an  infinity 
of  points  on  the  arm.  There  were  a  thousand  futile 
attempts  to  answer  the  query,  on  the  part  of  the  most 
illustrious  mathematicians ;  and  when,  at  length,  an 
undeniable  solution  was  discovered,  men  found  that 
the  wings  of  a  bird  had  given  it  with  absolute  pre 
cision  ever  since  the  first  bird  had  traversed  the  air." 
The  cells  of  the  honey-comb  afford  another  and  more 
familiar  example  of  the  same  law.  They  are  so  con 
structed  as  to  give  the  utmost  room  that  is  compatible 
with  the  utmost  stability  and  compactness.  There  is 
no  loss  of  space  and  yet  no  diminution  of  strength.* 

*  As  if  to  demonstrate  the  existence  and  rigid  authority  of  this  law  in  the 
most  emphatic  manner  possible,  we  find  it  extended  even  to  the  region  of  the 
supernatural.  The  miracles  of  Scripture,  although  exceptional,  as  unusual 
exhibitions  of  Divine  power,  are  not  exceptional  in  respect  of  the  law  which 
v:c  are  now  considering.  First  of  all,  no  miracle  is  performed  unless  the 
occasion  plainly  justifies  and  demands  it.  The  rule  that  Nature  dictated  to  a 
heathen  poet,  and  by  which  she  guided  his  predecessors,  is  the  actual  rule  of 
God  in  the  testimony  borne  by  Omnipotence  to  Truth — 

"  Nee  deus  Intersil  nisi  dignus  vindice  nodus." 

A  needless  miracle  would  be  unworthy  of  Heaven,  and  incredible  to  enlight 
ened  men.  But  further,  in  the  working  of  the  miracle  itself,  all  that  can  be 
done,  by  human  power  and  ordinary  means,  is  commanded  to  be  done.  If 
water  is  to  be  made  wine,  the  water-pots  are  filled  by  the  hands  of  men.  It 
would  have  been  as  easy  to  create  the  wine  at  once,  but,  in  that  case,  the  law 
of  nothing  superfluous  and  nothing  defective  would  have  been  violated.  If 
the  leper  is  to  be  cured,  he  must  wash  seven  times  in  the  waters  of  Jordan 
and  be  clean.  If  the  withered  hand  is  to  be  restored,  the  patient  must  him 
self  make  an  eifort  to  stretch  it  forth.  If  dead  Lazarus  is  to  be  raised,  men 
must  roll  the  stone  from  the  mouth  of  the  sepulchre,  and  when  he  comes  forth 
bound  hand  and  foot,  they  must  unloose  the  grave  clothes  and  let  him  go. 
Even  in  the  two  miracles  of  feeding  the  multitudes,  the  baskets  of  fragments 


ME.  NAIKNE'S   ADDRESS.  183 

I  am  aware  that  there  are  some  seeming  exceptions 
to  the  rule  which  I  wish  to  demonstrate.  For  in 
stance,  the  rain  that  would  cheer  the  thirsty  ground 
in  a  season  of  drought,  and  save  the  fruits  of  the 
earth  for  the  use  of  man,  may  return  from  the  clouds 
to  the  ocean,  or  fall  upon  the  sterile  sand ;  while  at 
other  times  the  labors  of  the  husbandman  may  be 
deluged  from  on  high,  and  his  wealth  swept  away  by 
the  torrent  that  gathers  among  the  hills.  But  that 
the  rain  is  wasted  even  on  the  sea  or  the  sand,  would 
be  far  too  much  for  us  to  affirm ;  and  no  believer  in 
Providence  will  find  difficulty  in  rightly  interpreting 
the  variations  and  hazards  that  attend  the  cultivation 
of  the  soil.  In  fact,  we  know  too  little  of  mete 
orology  to  decide  what  advantage  may  arise  to  the 
whole  globe  from  the  phenomena  of  the  sky  ;  but  we 
know  enough  of  nature's  works  to  be  assured  that 
every  phenomenon  must  accord  with  the  law  for 
which  I  am  now  contending. 

Up  to  this  point,  however,  I  have  said  nothing  of 

were  not  superfluous  but  intentional ;  because,  besides  being  gathered  up  for 
future  use,  they  afforded  the  Saviour  the  very  opportunity  he  sought  and 
planned,  of  inculcating  care  and  frugality  that  nothing  might  be  lost.  This  les 
son  was,  in  fact,  a  Divine  proclamation  of  the  law  in  question — that  in  God's 
doings  there  is  no  deficiency  and  no  redundancy.  The  same  Being,  who 
created  food  in  the  lonely  place  for  his  hearers,  could  have  done  so  for  himself 
when  he  hungered  in  the  wilderness ;  but  the  miracle  was  not  needed,  and, 
therefore,  it  was  not  performed.  Thus  the  multiplying  of  the  loaves  and 
fishes,  which,  at  first  glance,  appears  to  contradict  our  principle,  really  goes 
to  confirm  it  in  every  particular. 


184  >IR.  NAIKKE'S  ADDEESS. 

the  proportion  between  the  powers  and  the  work  of 
intellectual  and  moral  beings.  This,  indeed,  is  the 
very  question  which  we  are  required  to  determine. 
But  the  condition  of  man  is  obviously  excluded  from 
our  argument :  for  it  is  upon  man's  condition  as  a  con 
clusion  that  the  entire  argument  is  intended  to  bear  ; 
and  except  in  so  far  as  we  can  perceive,  in  the  present 
state  of  humanity,  indications  of  primeval  perfection, 
the  whole  of  our  inductive  evidence  must  necessarily 
be  analogical. 

Excluding  man,  then,  the  nearest  approach  to  intel 
ligence  in  terrestrial  nature  is  the  instinct  of  ani 
mals  ;  and  it  was  once  my  purpose  to  relieve  the 
tedium  of  our  present  investigation  by  adducing  illus 
trations  of  the  law  now  under  discussion,  from  that 
interesting  field  of  Natural  History.  Such  a  course, 
however,  would  prolong  this  address  beyond  all  due 
bounds ;  and  I,  therefore,  content  myself  with  a 
general  statement  of  fact — that,  while  every  instinct 
that  is  necessary  for  the  comfort  and  preservation  of 
brutes  is  bestowed  upon  them,  they  possess,  in  their 
natural  condition,  none  that  are  superfluous.  When 
any  of  them  are  domesticated  by  man,  they  are 
rendered  so  far  artificial,  and  some  of  their  original 
instincts  may  thus  become  useless.  But  in  their  wild 
state  these  instincts  are  indispensable.  The  dog,  which 
now  turns  round  several  times  before  lying  down  to 


ME.   NAIENE'S  ADDEESS.  185 

sleep,  is  only  practicing  in  domesticity  the  gyration 
by  which  his  ancestors  hollowed  out  their  lairs  in  the 
wilderness.  Hence  we  have  the  strong  analogy  of 
instinct  to  add  to  the  evidence  already  adduced,  that 
the  powers  of  every  creature  are  exactly  proportioned 
to  the  work  which  that  creature  has  to  perform. 

Whether  or  not  there  are  any  spiritual  beings 
between  man  and  God  is  a  question  which  mere  philo 
sophy  does  not  enable  us  to  decide.  It  is  the  general 
belief  of  the  human  race  that  there  are  such  beings ; 
and  the  testimony  of  Scripture,  which  reveals  the 
existence  of  Angels  as  a  matter  of  fact,  coincides 
with  this  general  belief.  A  dogma  of  revelation, 
however,  cannot  be  used  as  a  link  in  any  chain  of 
purely  philosophical  argument.  All  the  aid  that  we 
are  entitled  to  claim  from  the  Bible  is  the  fact,  that 
everything  therein  declared  concerning  the  nature  of 
Angels  is  in  perfect  accordance  with  the  conclusions 
which  I  have  already  drawn  from  the  attributes  of 
God.  These  pure  spirits  are  always  represented  as 
busy  in  the  service  of  their  Lord.  They  rest  not  day 
and  night.  Their  devotion  to  God  is  entire ;  and  not 
a  single  hint  is  dropped  to  the  effect  that  any  of  their 
power  is  ever  kept  back,  or  diverted,  from  the  work 
that  their  Creator  has  assigned  them.  Their  duty  and 
their  delight  is  to  employ  all  their  faculties,  at  all  times, 
and  in  all  their  available  strength,  in  the  service  of 


186  MR.  NAIKKE'S   ADDKESS. 

Him  from  whom  these  faculties  were  derived.  There 
is  not  one  circumstance  in  this  representation  which 
conflicts  with  our  notions  of  justice  and  propriety. 
Everything  is  exactly  as  we  should  judge  it  to  be 
from  the  relation  of  spirits  to  the  Father  of  Spirits. 
We  feel  assured  that,  if  there  really  are  spirit 
ual  creatures  superior  to  ourselves,  the  law  of  their 
duty  to  God  is  precisely  that  which  the  Bible  de 
scribes. 

But  though  it  would  be  illogical  to  pass,  in  an 
argument  of  this  kind,  from  reason  to  revelation 
when  reason  fails  us,  it  is  manifestly  lawful  to  rest 
upon  well-attested  historical  facts,  whether  these  are 
facts  of  Jewish  or  of  Gentile  history.  Now,  the  ap 
pearance  and  ministry  of  angels  I  hold  to  be  his 
torical  facts.  No  candid  critic  can  confound  them 
with  the  fables  of  Greek  and  Roman  mythology.  I 
am,  therefore,  justified  in  assuming  that  the  general 
belief  of  mankind  on  the  question  of  superhuman 
spirits  is  correct ;  and  this  being  the  case,  my  rational 
apprehension  of  Ethical  relations  assures  me  that 
their  power  and  their  duty  are  most  scrupulously 
proportioned  to  each  other,  and  that  such  of  them  as 
have  not  abused  their  spiritual  liberty  do  fulfill  their 
duty  to  the  very  letter. 

If,  then,  the  law  of  exact  correspondence  and  pro 
portion  between  power  and  work  extends  over  both 


ME.   NAIRNE'S   ADDRESS. 


the  highest  and  the  lowest  of  God's  creatures,  it  were 
most  unreasonable  to  imagine  that  man,  who  stands 
between  the  brute  and  the  angel  —  a  compound  of 
the  animal  and  the  spiritual  —  can  be  exempted  from 
the  rule  that  applies  to  the  animal  and  the  spiritual 
alike.  When  we  find  man  doing  other  work  than 
his  God's,  the  rational  inference  is  —  not  that  his 
capacities  of  intelligence,  feeling  and  will  are  insuf 
ficient  for  the  attainment  of  the  end  of  his  being  — 
but  that  his  original  condition  has  undergone  a 
change  —  that  he  has  abused  his  moral  freedom,  and 
is  a  rebel  against  the  law.  Most  unwarrantable  it 
were  to  suppose  that  the  law  has  been  abrogated  in 
his  favor,  or  even  in  the  smallest  degree  relaxed. 
The  existence  of  the  law  is  manifest  ;  its  foundation 
lies  in  the  relation  of  creature  to  Creator,  from  which 
relation  the  creature,  man,  can  claim  no  exemption  ; 
and  what  can  be  more  reasonable  than  the  employ 
ment  of  God's  own  gifts  in  God's  own  service,  and  in 
nothing  else  ?  The  law,  indeed,  is  not  only  reason 
able  but  supremely  benevolent  ;  for  the  only  solid 
happiness  lies  in  strict  obedience  to  its  commands. 
Bird,  beast,  reptile,  fish  and  insect  are  all  happy  in 
the  exercise  of  their  instincts,  and  the  use  of  their 
powers.  To  do  the  bidding  of  the  Most  High  con 
stitutes  the  blessedness  of  angels.  And  every  human 
being,  who  has  abandoned  his  rebellion  and  returned 


188  ME.  NAIKNE'S  ADDKESS. 

to  his  allegiance,  is  forward  to  proclaim  that  lie  never 
knew  substantial  enjoyment  till  now.* 

We  thus  find  that  the  conclusion  for  which  I  have 
been  contending  is  supported  both  by  considerations 
a  priori,  and  by  examples  drawn  from  every  region 
of  nature;  and  we  are  abundantly  warranted  in 
affirming  that  every  creature  has  a  work  to  do  for 
his  Creator,  and  that  his  Creator  has  furnished  him 
with  powers  precisely  proportioned  and  adapted  to 
that  work.  The  work  does  not  exceed  the  powers, 
and  the  power  is  not  greater  than  the  work.  It  is 
thus  manifestly  impossible  that  a  creature  can  ever 
do  more  than  his  duty  to  God ;  and  consequently,  in 


*  The  aphorism  of  the  Great  Teacher  is  at  once  natural  and  true:  "Unto 
whomsoever  much  is  given,  of  him  shall  much  be  required."  The  whole  law 
of  the  creature  lies  in  this  Divine  announcement ;  and  it  is  fully  illustrated  in 
the  parables  of  the  talents  and  pounds,  and  of  the  wise  and  foolish  virgins. 
I  cite  another  passage  of  Scripture  to  the  same  effect.  It  is  this :  "  Whether 
ye  eat  or  drink,  or  whatsoever  ye  do,  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God."  The  precept 
is  quite  general.  All  that  we  do,  even  to  the  most  common  and  necessary 
actions,  is  to  be  done — not  unto  ourselves,  nor  to  any  other  creature — but  to 
the  glory  of  Him  who  made  us.  I  need  not,  therefore,  dwell  on  that  aspect 
of  the  command.  I  prefer  to  inquire  what  is  meant  by  eating  and  drinking 
to  God's  glory.  Manifestly,  not  that  which  some  suppose — namely,  eating 
and  drinking  with  thankful  hearts.  Doubtless,  gratitude  to  Providence  for  our 
daily  bread  is  a  good  thing,  and  a  duty ;  but  I  cannot  believe  that  that  idea 
exhausts  the  significance  of  an  expression  so  remarkable  as  the  one  in  ques 
tion.  The  real  and  full  meaning  of  the  passage  is  clearly  this :  that,  in  the 
matter  of  eating  and  drinking,  we  are  bound  to  eat  and  drink  of  such  things, 
and  in  such  quantities,  and  at  such  times,  as  will  maintain  our  powers,  both 
mental  and  bodily,  in  the  highest  possible  state  of  efficiency  and  endurance, 
for  the  service  of  our  Lord  and  Master.  Excess,  on  the  one  hand,  and  absti 
nence,  on  the  other,  are  equally  derelictions  of  duty,  unless  some  absolute 
necessity,  or  some  higher  duty,  intervenes  to  modify  our  practice. 


ME.  JSTAIKNE'S  ADBKESS.  189 

case  of  failure,  lie  can  make  absolutely  no  compensa 
tion — in  case  of  arrearage,  future  payment  is  utterly 
beyond  his  own  ability.  Any  accumulation  of  crea 
ture  merit  is  an  obvious  absurdity ;  and  so  there 
never  can  be  a  surplus  to  atone  for  a  single  moment's 
idleness,  or  a  single  moment's  relaxation  beyond  that 
rest  which  may  be  really  required  by  the  creature's 
constitution.  If  the  faculties  of  an  angel  are  nobler 
than  those  of  a  man,  the  angel  has  a  more  arduous 
task  to  perform ;  and  both  man  and  angel  are  bound, 
by  the  relation  of  creature  to  Creator,  to  employ  con 
tinually  their  whole  available  power  in  their  Crea 
tor's  service.  And  more  than  this,  they  are  also 
bound  to  take  good  care  that  no  abuse  of  any  sort — 
neither  of  improper  exertion,  nor  of  sensual  indul 
gence — shall  diminish  their  power,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  that  no  exercise  shall  be  neglected,  on  the  other, 
which  may  increase  its  efficiency,  according  to  the 
appointed  law  of  such  increase.  There  is  no  allow 
ance  for  indolence,  or  carelessness,  or  irregular  activ 
ity  ;  far  less  for  positive  perversion.  Should  the  duty 
of  any  man  ever  call  for  over-exertion,  and  conse 
quent  destruction  of  power,  the  sacrifice  is  required 
by  his  present  abnormal  condition.  In  a  perfect  state 
no  such  demand  can  be  made ;  for  no  such  sacrifice 
can  be  necessary. 

Now,  keeping  fully  in   mind  what   I  have  thus 


190  ME.   NAIENE'S  ADDEESS. 

demonstrated  respecting  the  duty  of  man,  and  the 
relation  of  his  original  power  to  that  duty,  let  me 
attempt  the  proof  of  a  second  proposition,  which, 
after  its  establishment,  I  shall  ask  you  to  connect  with 
the  first,  so  as  to  draw  a  conclusion  from  a  compari 
son  of  the  two. 

My  second  proposition  is  the  following :  The 
scheme  of  God  in  creation  and  providence  is  progress 
ive  :  not  in  the  sense  of  proceeding  by  trial  and 
error,  as  the  schemes  of  men  do  ;  but  in  the  sense  of 
proceeding  from  perfection  to  further  perfection. 

If  you  reflect  on  the  connection  of  cause  and  effect, 
as  exhibited  in  the  universe,  you  will  find  that  no 
cause  is  followed  by  one  effect  only.  There  may, 
indeed,  be,  and  there  usually  is,  one  effect  of  which 
the  given  cause  is  more  particularly  the  antecedent ; 
but,  in  addition  to  this  prominent  effect,  there  are  also 
minor  and  collateral  effects  which  must  be  ascribed 
to  the  same  cause ;  and  each  of  these  effects  becomes, 
in  its  turn,  a  cause  destined  to  produce  so  many  sepa 
rate  series  of  new  effects,  and  so  on  ad  infimtum. 
The  propagation  of  effects  is  thus  like  the  propagation 
of  a  race  of  animals  or  vegetables  from  a  parent 
stock.  In  fact,  the  indefinite  propagation  of  organ 
ized  creatures  is  just  an  instance  of  that  causal  pro 
gression  whereof  I  am  now  speaking.  Perpetual  pro 
gress  is,  therefore,  a  necessary  result  of  the  great  law 


ME.  NAIENE'S  ADDEESS.  191 

of  cause  and  effect.  From  the  Almighty  First  Cause, 
as  from  the  centre  of  power,  streams  of  causation  are 
forever  radiating,  and  forever  widening,  in  a  multi 
plied  efficiency,  towards  the  outer  regions  of  unlim 
ited  space,  and  through  the  endless  ages  of  infinite 
time. 

But  I  will  not  rest  the  demonstration  of  our  second 
proposition,  any  more  than  I  did  that  of  our  first, 
upon  mere  a  priori  considerations.  It  will  be  more 
interesting  to  you,  and  quite  as  much  to  our  present 
purpose,  if  I  can  lead  you,  by  a  brief  induction  of 
particular  cases,  to  a  satisfactory  establishment  of  the 
general  law. 

From  an  examination  of  the  rocks  which  compose 
the  crust  of  our  earth,  and  the  organic  remains  that 
are  therein  imbedded,  we  find  that  this  world  has 
undergone  a  succession  of  wonderful  changes,  in 
which  creation  after  creation,  each  perfect  in  its  kind, 
has  been  destroyed,  and  by  which  the  globe  has  been 
gradually  prepared  for  the  comfortable  habitation  of 
the  human  race.  The  geological  history  of  the  earth 
is  one  of  the  sublimest  retrospects  that  scientific  re 
search  affords.  Through  the  mighty  and  mysterious 
ages  of  the  past,  mortal  and  irrational  creatures  have 
been  employed  as  the  precursors  and  pioneers  of  the 
rational  and  immortal,  and  we  believe  that,  after  one 
change  more,  all  of  the  latter  that  has  become  liable 


192  MR.   NAIRNE'S   ADDRESS. 

to  death  shall  be  re-endowed  with  immortality,  and 
not  a  bone  of  man  shall  continue  in  the  dust.  The 
ground  shall  give  up  its  human  dead — not  in  frag 
ments  and  fossils  for  the  instruction  of  superior 
beings — but  living,  and  to  live  forever,  in  their 
renovated  abode. 

Again — rising  from  the  earth  to  the  heavens,  we  dis 
cover  there  appearances  which  go  to  prove  that  there 
is  a  similar  creative  progression  in  other  worlds  besides 
our  own.  There  seems  sufficient  truth  in  the  nebular 
hypothesis,  to  warrant  the  conclusion  that  the  realms 
of  space  contain  systems  in  all  stages  of  formation, 
from  the  most  chaotic  and  rudimentary,  up  to  those 
which  we  are  wont  to  call  perfect.  Creation  nowhere 
springs  at  once  to  the  highest  beauty,  but  unfolds  its 
glories  by  degrees.  The  eternal  Maker  lays  his  com 
mands  on  matter,  and  He,  to  whom  a  thousand  years 
are  as  one  day,  guides  it  obediently,  through  count 
less  ages,  to  its  destined  end. 

Returning  to  our  own  earth,  we  there  perceive  the 
same  law  of  progress  in  detail,  which  we  have  already 
observed  in  the  general.  The  life  force  in  animals 
and  vegetables  builds  up  bodies  for  them  by  a  gradual 
process  of  assimilation  and  growth,  and  matures  in 
them  the  germs  of  future  generations ;  so  that  from 
one  tree  may  spring  a  forest,  and  from  one  pair  the 
population  of  a  planet ;  and  in  the  higher  region  of 


ME.   NAIRKE'S   ADDEESS.  193 

human  personality,  the  intellectual,  aesthetical,  and 
moral  powers  work  out,  by  continued  effort,  the  ad 
vancement  of  science,  and  art,  and  liberty.  In  spite 
of  reverses  and  vicissitudes,  and  transmigrations  from 
one  country  to  another,  civilization,  and  knowledge, 
and  government  are  perpetually  moving  forward,  on 
the  whole.  "Antiquitas  seculi,  juventas  mundi."  The 
human  family — as  a  family — are  not  only  older,  but 
wiser,  and  better,  and  happier  now  than  ever  they 
were  since  first  they  peopled  the  earth.  The  com 
parative  barbarism,  that  has  overrun  some  ancient 
fields  of  refinement,  is  more  than  compensated  by  the 
higher  culture  of  others,  and  by  the  gladness  of  many 
a  primeval  wilderness  that  has  been  made  to  rejoice 
and  blossom  as  the  rose. 

On  the  whole,  then,  and  not  to  weary  you  by  fur 
ther  induction,  I  venture  to  affirm  that  progress  from 
one  degree  of  perfection  to  another  is  a  law  which 
the  Almighty  has  been  pleased  to  enact  for  His  own 
operations,  and  for  the  continued  felicity  of  His  ra 
tional  and  responsible  creatures.  Of  the  progres 
sion  that  is  visible  in  material  things,  I  need  say 
nothing  more.  The  notice  of  it  was  necessary  only 
to  fortify  our  second  proposition,  as  I  did  the  first, 
by  analogy.  I  crave  your  particular  attention  to  the 
progress  of  the  intellectual  and  moral  universe,  and 
to  the  fact,  that  the  very  nature  and  necessities  of 


18 


194  ME.   NAIBKE'S  ADDEESS. 

spiritual  creatures  compel  us  to  believe,  that  the  same 
increase  of  power  and  enjoyment  which  we  discern 
in  the  human  race  is  also  a  law  to  every  rational  and 
accountable  subject  of  the  King  of  kings.  "We  know 
enough  of  our  own  souls  to  feel  assured  that,  were  it 
not  for  the  perishable  bodies  wherein  they  dwell, 
their  capacity  of  improvement  is  indefinite ;  and  con 
sequently,  in  the  case  of  pure  spirits,  there  can  be  no 
limit  to  the  accumulating  strength  acquired  by  per 
petual  exercise. 

Let  us  now  connect  our  two  propositions,  and  see 
what  conclusion  will  result  from  them. 

Every  creature  has  a  work  to  perform,  and  power 
enough,  but  not  more  than  enough,  to  perform  it. 
As  the  power  increases  by  continued  exercise,  the 
work  increases  in  exact  proportion.  The  ratio  of  the 
two  is  always  a  ratio  of  equality.  We  have  thus,  in 
the  universe  of  God,  a  perpetually  augmenting  power 
and  a  perpetually  augmenting  work — a  continued 
progress  which  will  never  have  an  end — a  vast  pro 
cession  of  intelligence  and  virtue,  ever  mounting  and 
ever  hastening  towards  loftier  heights  of  knowledge, 
righteousness,  and  holiness.  Should  any  creature,  or 
any  company,  in  that  universal  march,  stop  short  in 
the  exercise  of  their  faculties — sit  down  indolently 
by  the  way,  or  absolutely  commence  to  struggle  back 
ward  against  the  advancing  host — thus  wasting  their 


ME.  NAIENE'S  ADDEESS.  195 

strength  in  vain  perversity,  tell  me,  I  pray  you,  what 
consequences  would  follow  ?  The  grand  procession 
hurries  on  with  ever-growing  power  and  speed.  The 
loiterers  and  mutineers  are  left  behind,  losing  vigor, 
both  of  intellect  and  will,  every  moment  of  their 
stay.  The  distance  between  them  and  their  former 
fellows  is  ever,  ever  widening,  while  their  own  capa 
cities  for  good  are  ever,  ever  diminishing.  Their 
perdition  is  deepening  by  a  double  acceleration.  The 
case  is  clearly  a  hopeless  one — hopeless,  most  hope 
less — unless  God  himself  can  open  up  an  avenue  of 
hope! 

Turn  aside  with  me,  therefore,  and  gaze  on  this 
great  sight — this  wondrous  procession  of  angel  and 
archangel,  cherubim  and  seraphim !  Onward  and 
upward  tread  incessantly  these  unfallen  sons  of 
God !  Failing  in  no  duty  since  they  first  were  made, 
they  have  ever  been  mounting  from  glory  to  glory, 
and  from  strength  to  strength.  Their  intelligence 
has  been  perpetually  expanding,  and  their  knowledge 
has  been  perpetually  augmenting.  Their  affections 
have  been  continually  deepening,  and  fresh  objects  of 
affection  have  been  continually  supplied  as  their  ca 
pacities  enlarged.  Their  moral  sense  has  been  always 
acquiring  new  vigor,  their  will  has  been  always  grow 
ing 'more  resolute,  and  their  lapse  into  disobedience 
has  been  evermore  becoming  less  and  less  possible. 


196  ME,   NAIENE'S   ADDEESS. 

It  is  a  marvelous  panorama  that  we  have  now  before 
us !  Not  the  sons  of  Genius,  struggling  upwards, 
with  panting  breath  and  many  a  slip,  to  some  mythic 
immortality  on  the  heights  of  Olympus  or  of  Heli 
con — not  these,  but  the  sons  of  Almighty  God,  bright 
with  eternal  youth,  and  strong  with  ever-growing 
strength — tasked  to  the  full,  but  never  overstrained — 
exultant  in  their  ascent  as  the  eagle  in  its  flight — 
marching  up  the  highway  to  the  heaven  of  heavens, 
while  the  splendors  of  the  holy  place  cast  on  their 
path  a  brighter  glory  than  the  sunshine,  and  the 
chorus  of  triumph  swells  from  rear  to  van  of  the 
magnificent  procession !  Not  the  stars  of  heaven — 
not  suns,  with  their  planetary  trains,  sweeping  on 
ward  through  space — not  galaxies  rushing  in  cycles 
that  baffle  computation,  yet  still  returning  whence 
they  came  as  the  appointed  ages  roll  away — not 
these  grand  orbs,  but  spirits  immortal,  each  more 
precious  than  a  thousand  stars,  advancing  forever 
and  forever  towards  that  Sanctuary  where  sitteth 
the  Father  of  Spirits — "high-throned  above  all 
height" — unapproachable,  yet  "altogether  lovely," 
and  still  disclosing  new  beauties  to  His  children  as 
they  rise ! 

But  where  is  man  in  this  majestic  progress — what 
place  holds  he  in  the  universal  host  ?  He,  too,  was 
destined  to  a  post  in  the  procession,  and,  though  the 


ME.  NAIENE'S  ADDEESS.  19*7 

last  of  God's  children,  was  not  the  least  in  His  regard. 
Angels  would  not  have  disdained  his  company,  nor 
would  his  voice  of  joy  have  been  discordant  with 
their  song.  He,  no  less  than  they,  would  have  pro 
ceeded  from  perfection  to  perfection — his  capacity, 
like  theirs,  forever  growing  and.  forever  full !  But 
man  is  confessedly  a  deserter  from  the  army  of  the 
Lord  of  Hosts.  The  most  orthodox  believer  bears 
no  stronger  testimony  to  this  fact,  than  does  the  zeal 
ous  reformer,  who  frequently  would  compensate  for 
the  scantiness  of  his  creed  by  the  extent  of  his  phi 
lanthropy.  Forsaking  the  ranks  of  Heaven,  and  in 
league  with  the  rebellious,  man  has  met  the  fate  of 
the  dupe  in  his  apostacy.  He  now  strays  and  strug 
gles  in  the  wilderness — struggles  with  its  entangle 
ments,  seeks  a  home  in  its  spots  of  transient  verdure, 
and  strays  further  and  further  from  the  way  of  life. 
His  faculties  have  been  perverted,  his  affections  have 
been  misplaced,  and  his  will  has  been  depraved. 
Sloth  has  enervated  him,  passion  has  wasted  his  vigor, 
and  he  either  sits  down  or  retrogrades,  while  the 
universe  hastens  on  !  The  interval  between  where  he 
is  and  where  he  ought  to  be  is  perpetually  lengthen 
ing,  and  the  cumulative  power,  that  was  due  to  his 
continued  exercise  in  holiness,  is  irrevocably  gone. 
Never,  even  though  he  desired  it,  can  he  overtake 
his  former  companions ;  neither,  though  he  could  over- 


198  ME.   NAIENE'S   ADDEESS. 

take  them,  lias  he  now  the  strength  to  keep  pace  with 
them  in  their  accelerating  march.  They  are  now 
stronger  than  they  were,  and  he,  to  all  true  good,  is 
weaker.  Desolate  and  helpless  as  Israel  in  the  House 
of  Bondage — desolate  and  helpless  as  the  captives 
who  hung  their  harps  upon  the  willows,  and  wept  by 
the  rivers  of  Babylon — desolate  and  helpless  as  the 
daughter  of  Zion  bowing  in  sorrow  beneath  the  palm- 
tree — desolate  and  helpless  as  the  prodigal  who,  far 
from  love  and  home,  would  fain  have  fed  on  unclean 
husks — desolate  and  helpless  as  these,  he  sits  him 
down — and  who  shall  bear  him  across  the  space  that 
intervenes  between  him  and  the  post  he  should  have 
held — who  shall  replace  the  strength  that  he  has 
squandered  in  iniquity,  and  supply  the  power  that  he 
ought  to  have  gained  in  the  practice  of  righteousness  ? 
Manifestly,,  not  himself;  for  at  no  period  had  he  more 
power  than  he  needed,  and  now  he  has  far  less. 
Manifestly,  not  an  angelr  nor  an  army  of  angels,  for, 
though  they  may  pity  the  apostate,  they  have  no 
power  to  spare.  Manifestly,  no  created  thing — mani 
festly,  none  but  the  Omnipotent — none  but  One  who 
is  absolute  and  independent — One  who  can  interpose, 
with  the  fullness  of  underived  and  unclaimed  might, 
to  seek  and  to  save  the  ruined. 

"  How   charming  is   divine   Philosophy !"      How 


MR.  NAIRKE'S  ADDRESS.  199 

charming  at  all  times,  but  especially  how  charming 
when  she  thus  leads  us  to  the  portals  of  Divine  Reve 
lation,  and  the  response  of  the  Holy  Oracle  harmo 
nizes  with  the  voice  of  Reason !  There  really  is  an 
Almighty  Redeemer — an  Omnipotent  One  that  lays 
hold  on  wretched  man,  and  bears  him  to  where  he 
should  have  been  in  the  universal  march ;  and  who, 
from  the  riches  of  His  grace,  can  furnish  more  than 
all  the  energy  that  man  has  lost  I  "  Who  is  this  that 
cometh  from  Edoni ;  with  dyed  garments  from  Boz- 
rah  ?  this  that  is  glorious  in  his  apparel,  travelling  in 
the  greatness  of  his  strength?"  It  is  I — "I  that 
speak  in  righteousness,  mighty  to  save." 

From  the  hour  that  this  Deliverer  espoused  our 
cause,  the  door  of  hope  was  opened,  and  the  free 
favor  of  Heaven,  descending  to  bless  this  blighted 
earth,  prevented  its  degenerating  into  a  pandemo 
nium.  Divine  mercy,  that  heretofore  might  have  been 
heard  of  by  the  hearing  of  the  ear,  but  which  no 
eye  had  yet  seen  in  actual  operation — this  new  attri 
bute  of  Godhead,  like  a  new  system  in  immensity, 
was  disclosed  to  the  admiration  of  angels  and  men. 
From  that  blessed  hour,  captive  after  captive  began 
to  be  released.  Death,  the  avenger,  was  made  the 
herald  of  eternal  life,  and  the  grave  of  the  now 
mortal  body  become  the  gate  of  glory  to  the  still 
immortal  soul.  From  that  hour,  the  noble  work  of 


200  ME.   NAIKKE'S  ADDKESS. 

emancipation — emancipation  to  light  and  power  as 
well  as  freedom — has  been  going  on ;  multitudes  of 
the  rescued  have  been  welcomed  to  the  celestial  throng ; 
and  we  believe — for  our  natural  expectation  is  un 
quenchable,  and  the  oracles  of  prophecy  assure  us — 
that  a  day  of  triumphant  restoration  is  drawing 
nigh.  It  is  written !  it  is  sealed  in  heaven  !  and  the 
fullness  of  time  shall  reveal  it  all !  And  when  the 
great  day  shall  come  at  last,  there  shall  be  such  a 
merry-making  in  the  universe  as  has  not  been  since 
of  old  the  morning  stars  sang  together;  for  the 
crowning  act  of  a  new  and  nobler  creation  shall  have 
been  brought  to  a  close.  The  Celestial  Host,  whose 
glory  lighted  the  plains  of  Bethlehem,  and  whose 
anthem  echoed  along  its  hills,  shall  again  unfold  their 
splendors  and  take  up  their  song ;  and  Earth  below, 
no  longer  mute  as  in  the  beginning,  but  vocal 
throughout  all  her  realms,  shall  send  back  her  joyous 
response  to  the  gates  of  Paradise.  The  mountains 
shall  break  forth  into  singing ;  the  fields  shall  clap 
hands  on  every  side ;  the  glorious  strain  shall  ring  in 
the  harping  of  the  woods;  streams  shall  murmur 
praise  as  they  flow ;  and  ocean  shall  uplift  his  music 
of  many  waters  in  concert  with  the  quiring  winds ; 
the  stars  shall  peal  notes  of  gratulation  from  their 
spheres ;  the  great  sun  shall  roll  through  all  his  deep 
tones  of  rejoicing  ;  the  ransomed  themselves  shall  lead 


ME.   NAIENE'S  ADDEESS.  201 

the  mighty  jubilee  with  "  blest  voices  uttering  joy;" 
while  the  vaulted  sky,  like  a  high  temple-roof,  shall 
resound  the  glad  chorus  of  a  renovated  world,  and  a 
race  at  length  made  free  ! 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 

Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


FEB   11 
FEB  13    1948 

,  ' 


IN 

MM  3  Q1962 


J> 


#** 


RECEIVED 

JUL25'69-3PM 

UOAN   P1" — 


LD  21-100m.9,'47(A5702sl6)476 


YC  65123 


/ 

. 


UNIVERSITY  OK  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


niiifi 


